By Rick Nelson, general manager of Nebraska Rural Electric Association

    This is always my favorite time of year, bringing in a new year. It feels like a new beginning to a new year. It’s like the feeling of starting a New Year’s resolution but following through with that resolution.
    The Nebraska Rural Electric Association (NREA) is the statewide organization of your local power district or electric cooperative. We provide value through essential services like job training and safety training, legislative representation, regulatory compliance, legal assistance, educational programming, and publishing the Nebraska Magazine. It is often thought that an organization such as a statewide organization can use the resources of many to provide services that the individual power district or electric cooperative does not have the resources to accomplish.
    Using those resources wisely also allows NREA to keep abreast of issues at the state and federal level, whether that is analyzing laws that impact public power operations or advocating for rural Nebraska and everything in between.
    There is a long list of issues that we track, but the basis for all the things we pay attention to revolves around how it will impact our members (your local power district or cooperative) and their electric consumers in rural Nebraska (you) as it pertains to reliability, affordability, and non-discriminatory rate design.
    That is the hallmark of public power in Nebraska and there is not a public power district or electric cooperative in the State of Nebraska that does not follow that philosophy.
    While that is a broad statement, the idea of local control provides meaning to those principles in your local public power boardrooms. All decisions, aside from regulatory and state statutes, are made at the local level. Therefore, the meaning of those principles may be a little different in Benkelman, Nebraska than it is in Pilger, Nebraska.
    We find those differences of opinion on the meaning of policies throughout the state. Should we all follow one meaning? I would say no. I come from an area of the state that I consider the Sandhills. I am pretty sure some people would argue that point with me saying that’s not the Sandhills, they are the true Sandhills. Are we both wrong or both correct? I am also the General Manager at Custer Public Power District, if that helps with the reference to the question.
    My point is that we are all public power. We all have the same goal of providing excellent service that is reliable and affordable. We want everybody to be treated the same, and we wake up every morning with those thoughts in mind.
    I hope you all have a joyous new year.