OPPD announces final transmission project route & updates board on more efforts to keep energy affordable and reliable

Omaha Public Power District continues to work to keep power reliable and resilient as energy needs grow. One major project is focused on the Bellevue area in anticipation of significant growth in that area. During this week’s committee meetings for the OPPD Board of Directors, utility leaders shared an update on the Bellevue Reliability Project, including an announcement of the final route for the Southeast Bellevue Transmission Project.

OPPD conducted extensive community outreach over the past several months to educate customers and receive feedback on potential transmission line routes. Efforts included sessions with local leaders, letters to nearby customers, an open house, a community engagement session, and a webinar. The utility considered all feedback received to determine a final route that minimizes impacts to landowners and planned economic development while mitigating impacts of potential environmental concerns. OPPD will be working with landowners near the determined route throughout the construction process, which is expected to begin in late 2027. We expect the line to be energized by the end of 2028.

The new transmission line is part of the first phase of the multiyear Bellevue Reliability Project. The project includes removing transmission lines and a substation from the floodplain, building a new substation, and expanding five other substations to facilitate growth and support critical community infrastructure. The project includes upgrades in Olde Towne, with a new line planned to replace existing lines that are in the floodplain. OPPD is evaluating opportunities to upgrade distribution lines in this area and relocate those lines under transmission infrastructure, where feasible. The utility is conducting routing work on that segment, with a final route expected by November and energization of that transmission line planned for end of year 2029.

Maintaining low rates

At this evening’s monthly board meeting, directors accepted the Strategic Directive (SD) 2: Rates monitoring report, finding the utility to be sufficiently in compliance with the directive. The report shows that the average of OPPD’ retail rates across all customer classes are 30.2% below the national average and 18.7% below the regional average. That’s according to 2024 data from the Energy Information Administration, the latest data available.

The board’s directive requires OPPD to target rates that are at least 10% below the North Central regional average, which encompasses seven states: Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota. However, at tonight’s meeting, the board approved a policy revision to SD-2, adjusting the region used for rate comparisons to West North Central Region. This would remove Illinois and Indiana and add Minnesota and North Dakota, providing a more relevant and accurate benchmark for evaluating OPPD’s rates against other peer states.

Integrated System Plan

This week, the board also received an update on OPPD’s Integrated System Plan (ISP), a report published every five years that guides how OPPD will optimize the utility’s energy portfolio while adhering to our mission of providing affordable, reliable and environmentally sensitive energy services. This plan was formerly known as OPPD’s Integrated Resource Plan but was updated to integrate the planning functions for generation supply with the district’s planning for grid delivery and custom customer solutions. The ISP, due by the end of the year, will shape an actionable plan for the next decade, including guidance on transitioning North Omaha Station away from coal.

The planning of the ISP is designed to be public-facing, engaging our customers and other stakeholders throughout the process. OPPD has held two public ISP workshops so far, in March and May (video archives available for viewing at OPPDCommunityConnect.com/ISP). The first focused on planning objectives and approach, how we plan to engage the public, and discussion of modeling scenarios. The second examined technology performance, costs, assumptions, and modeling scenarios.

Registration will open soon for a third workshop, which will be held in September, to review initial modeling results for capacity expansion, system reliability, and production cost, as well as risk analysis. A fourth workshop will be held in November to review the final results of the modeling and analysis, providing a final opportunity for public comment. OPPD will provide more specifics with board members and customers as we get closer to those dates.

In other action, the board:

• Approved the April 2026 financial reports, May 2026 meeting minutes, and June 18, 2026, agenda.
• At this evening’s monthly board meeting, the board voted to authorize the use of eminent domain, as may be necessary, to acquire permanent and temporary easements for electric transmission and distribution facilities related to Southeast Bellevue Transmission Project. Eminent domain would only be used as a last resort, following all reasonable negotiations.
• Accepted the SD-15: Enterprise Risk Management monitoring report, finding the utility to be sufficiently in compliance with the directive.
• Received and discussed corporate officer performance and approved compensation adjustments.
• Received and discussed CEO performance and approved a compensation adjustment.

Next board meetings 

There will be no board meetings in July. The next all-committees meeting will be held in person Tuesday, August 18, at 10 a.m. at OPPD administrative offices, 1919 Aksarben Dr. in Omaha, and virtually via Webex. The meeting link and instructions will be available at OPPD.com/CommitteeAgenda, beginning at about 9:45 a.m.

The next monthly board meeting is Thursday, August 20, at 5 p.m., in person at the Legislative Chamber of the Omaha-Douglas Civic Center, 1819 Farnam St., as well as virtually via Webex. The public can attend virtually via the meeting link and instructions at OPPD.com/BoardAgenda, beginning at 4:45 p.m.