By Wayne Price

    Nebraska Magazine is really the cornerstone of NREA’s public outreach and education program and we rely on the participation of our members to make that program a success! The magazine contains valuable information and a statewide connection for electric consumers they won’t receive if their electric system does not subscribe to the magazine for them.
    Nebraska Magazine has been published since January 1947. The role of the magazine is to inform consumers about the challenges faced by rural electric service providers, chronicle the benefits and challenges of rural community life, inform consumers of the status of the rural electrification programs, and to provide electrical safety and energy conservation information.
    It probably won’t come as a surprise that I think one of the most important purposes we can serve with the magazine is to educate our readers about national and state issues critical to the electric industry and rural residents. We recently updated the magazine, which has continued to evolve over the years as we strive to provide our readers with trustworthy information about issues like electric industry changes, rural economic development, renewable energy, and climate change, to name a few.
    In this respect, the magazine serves a critical “grassroots lobbying” function that can help educate and motivate consumers to talk to their elected officials about issues that can have significant impacts on your utility and the people of rural Nebraska. The magazine can help ensure our elected officials aren’t just hearing from paid lobbyists.
    The magazine also emphasizes safety and energy conservation issues to protect consumers and hopefully save them money.
    One of the other important functions of the magazine is it provides a way for Nebraskans to become more familiar with their state and their fellow Nebraskans. We run stories about people, places, and things in the state that many people who live here are not aware of. I hope by reading those stories our readers feel more “connected” to their home state.
    Nebraska Magazine covers a wide range of topics important to electric consumers like our youth programs including Youth Tour on page 14 of this issue, agricultural and technology issues, travel, and the Nebraska Legislature.
    While the cost of the magazine has gone up recently due to rising paper prices and soaring postage rates, it continues to cost less than 75 cents per issue. That’s a pretty good deal for the amount of information consumers are receiving from their rural electric utility.
    If you enjoy receiving Nebraska Magazine each month, I would encourage you to contact your rural electric utility and tell them so.