The Nebraska Public Power District and the Northwest Rural Public Power District have agreed to pursue a wholesale power supply contract starting May 1, 2024, following votes by NRPPD’s and NPPD’s Board of Directors.
NRPPD currently has a wholesale power supply contract with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Cooperative, based out of Westminster, Colorado. NRPPD has given notice to terminate that contract effective May 1, 2024.
NRPPD is headquartered in Hay Springs and serves 3,300 accounts in rural Dawes, Sheridan, and Cherry Counties in the Panhandle of Northwest Nebraska.
“Northwest Rural was a founding member of Tri-State and we’ve had a successful relationship for decades,” says Chance Briscoe, General Manager of NRPPD. “However, with the changes in the electric industry and consideration of NRPPD’s future needs, the Board of Directors believe NPPD offers the best opportunity for continued success into the future.”
NPPD currently serves customers in 84 of Nebraska’s 93 counties. This includes 24 rural public power districts and cooperatives and 37 municipalities through wholesale power supply contracts, as well as 79 retail communities, including two in South Dakota.
NPPD’s Board of Directors voted 11-0 in favor of pursuing a wholesale power supply contract with NRPPD, during their regularly scheduled November meeting.
NPPD benchmarks its wholesale rate with roughly 800 members of the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) on a yearly basis. Several years ago, NPPD set a goal to be in the first quartile – which is at or below the 25th percentile for power cost.
In 2020 NPPD met the goal for the first time since implementing the benchmark by finishing at the 23.2 percentile, then in 2021 improved to the 12.4 percentile, and now that data for 2022 has been finalized, NPPD’s rank improved further, finishing at the 11.7 percentile.
“NPPD has a proven track record for reliable power supply at extremely competitive rates,” says Briscoe. “With this agreement, NRPPD plans to offer a significant rate reduction to our electric customers in the near future and starting in May next year the agreement will keep more than $6 million a year from leaving the state of Nebraska.”
