How Does That Work?

Public power

WHAT IS IT?

Nebraska is the only state in the country where its residents receive electricity service entirely from public power utilities. These utilities set rates based on the costs of serving different customer classes. The classes are made up of customers who consume similar amounts of electricity and follow similar daily, weekly and seasonal usage patterns.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Local control is a key benefit of public power. With this system, Nebraskans:

• Elect individuals who are ultimately responsible for setting rates and strategic policies
• Have access to open meetings conducted by the governing authorities of the state’s utilities
• Have multiple opportunities to provide input to decisions made by their local utility

BEYOND NEBRASKA

Public power serves one in seven electricity customers in the U.S. – or 48 million people.

In comparison, OPPD is the ninth-largest public power utility in megawatt-hour sales and the eighth-largest in power generation.