Dive Brief:
- Nebraska ratepayers could save $250 million annually by opening the state's electric markets to competition, a private wind developer told attendees at a power conference this week.
- Nebraska, the only state in the country where all power is delivered by publicly-owned utilities, has seen rates rise 20% since 2008.
- Despite the increases, however, Nebraska had the 14th lowest electricity rates in the country according to data from the state.
Dive Insight:
Is Nebraska's public power industry delivering residents the cheapest possible power?
While the state's rates remain fairly low — averaging 8.8 cents/kWh last year, below the national average of 10.45 cents — private wind developers say they could help lower costs further if Nebraska would open is electricity markets to competition. But the state is the only one in the nation where all power is delivered by publicly-owned power systems.
“Nebraska’s public power cost of electricity is just not competitive today,” Gary Aksamit, of Aksamit Resources Management, told the conference. The price per MWh in Nebraska is about $10 to $13 higher than the wider market, he said, meaning the state's consumers could be saving $250 million to $325 million each year. Aksamit Resource Management has a 900-MW pipeline of wind energy development projects, according to its web site.
But with the state's rates still competitive nationally, utility officials weren't taking the bait.
“I don’t feel any need to apologize for public power’s performance in Nebraska,” said John McClure, vice president of government affairs for the Nebraska Public Power District. “Rates in Nebraska are very competitive.”
NPPD is the state's largest electric utility: it's service territory includes all or parts of 86 of Nebraska’s 93 counties. and it delivers power to about 600,000 residents. Almost 52% of its generation came from coal last year, followed by nuclear generation at about 30%. Wind power made up 6.5% of the utility's generation.
