Public power in Nebraska is something many people take for granted. Nebraska is the only entirely public power state. With a few exceptions, Nebraska electricity is provided by public power districts throughout the state. Public power districts, municipal utilities, and electric cooperatives were built to serve communities, not shareholders. That model for electric service still survives.
   Public power means there is local control over decisions for making rates, reliability, infrastructure, and services connected to your community. Board members are residents who live in your community and are publicly elected, giving you a voice in the future of your electrical service. 
   Whether your needs are agricultural, commercial, or domestic, locally governed public power supports your needs. It focuses on reliability and affordability. Because public power is not for profit and is a political subdivision of the state, its margins are reinvested into the system. Those margins are also available to support energy-efficiency programs, maintain competitive rates, and provide customer-friendly service.
   Public power is not static; it is not solely for maintenance. Public power is continually planning and growing for the betterment of the people it serves. Proper planning ensures that customers can take advantage of the opportunities in their personal and business lives. Technology, changing resources, and ever-higher expectations require public power to be adaptive and responsive to customer needs.
   The history of public power reflects the determination of its customers who, in its early days, worked to realize the asset was economical and practical. Early private companies did not want to serve rural communities due to low return on investment and too many miles per customer. Public power today is an economic powerhouse in Nebraska and its rural and urban communities. 
   The spirit that those early developers had reminds us that public power is rooted in the belief that it is accountable to the public, responsive to local needs, and managed for the long-term good of the community.
   Please remember that local control is essential in the governance of public power. Participation in public power ensures that local control will remain its greatest strength. Public power is not just a service, but a community partnership. Public power works because its governance belongs to the people that it serves.