Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) wholesale and retail customers will see no overall increase in electric rates for 2022, in addition to receiving the same production cost adjustment (PCA) credit as in 2021.
On Thursday, NPPD Board of Directors voted to keep wholesale and retail rates stable for 2022. This means there will be no overall increase in rates for retail customers for the ninth consecutive year, as well as no overall increase for wholesale customers (public power districts and municipalities) who purchase electricity from NPPD for the fifth straight year. While no overall increase in wholesale rates will occur, changes are being proposed to certain rates to better reflect the cost of providing these services. The approved 2022 wholesale rates will go into effect on February 1, 2022.
“No increase in our electric rates is good for the economy of Nebraska and the people who live and work here,” said NPPD President and CEO Tom Kent. “The NPPD team is constantly working to maintain rate competitiveness on a regional and national scale and being able to provide another year of rate stability is something we’re proud of.”
On the wholesale side, rural public power districts and municipalities will continue to see a PCA credit on their bill. NPPD’s Board voted to return $74.2 million in rate stabilization funds back to its wholesale customers, 38 municipalities and 23 rural public power districts and rural cooperatives, through the PCA which will run from February 2022 to January 2023.
NPPD benchmarks its wholesale rate with roughly 800 members of the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation’s (CFC) on a yearly basis. Several years ago, NPPD established a goal of being in CFC’s lowest quartile (below the 25-percentile mark) and accomplished that goal, sitting at the 23.2-percentile mark in the most recent benchmarking conducted in 2020.
“This is a great achievement for NPPD and our customers, as we strive to deliver reliable, low-cost and sustainable energy” added Kent.
NPPD will enter a ninth year without a base rate increase for its retail customers which includes residential, commercial and industrial customers in 79 communities in NPPD’s service territory such as Scottsbluff, Kearney, York, Norfolk and Plattsmouth. Those NPPD retail customers who receive a bill directly from NPPD will continue to see a PCA credit on their monthly bill between February 2022 through January 2023.
In addition to keeping base rates stable for 2022, NPPD also offers a separate RateWise Time-of-Use rate to retail customers, which allows them to see some potential savings benefits if they shift the bulk of their energy usage to certain times of the day. Learn more about this program at https://www.nppd.com/rates/for-your-home.
