Early Years

The city of Crete formed the state’s first electric department in 1887, about the same time farmers in western Nebraska were devising ways to store water for their irrigation needs. By the early 1930s, Nebraska had several hundred municipal utilities and 42 shareholder-owned electric companies. Several large hydropower projects were being built. In 1933, the [...]

Reliability

If your lights go out, chances are that a squirrel or a tree had something to do with it. Nebraska’s utilities love squirrels and trees as much as anyone. But when squirrels come into contact with a power line, they get electrocuted and your lights go out. Tree limbs can catch fire when they touch [...]

Affordability

Nebraska’s public power utilities were created to provide low cost, reliable electric service. Electricity is priced on costs, and the revenue that is generated is used to pay operating expenses and make necessary investments in maintenance, construction, and system upgrades. The rates do not include a profit margin. Since Nebraska’s utilities are not owned by [...]

Local Control

Publicly elected power district boards, appointed utility boards, rural electric cooperative boards, and city council representatives, control Nebraska’s utilities. Public power directors and council members understand their most important responsibility is to serve the needs of their customers, who also vote in elections. These governing representatives set service standards, budgets, policies, and electric prices. Regularly [...]