Omaha Public Power District seeks input on rate restructuring

During a meeting last Thursday, the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) Board of Directors discussed payer rate restructuring.

OPPD states that the monthly electrical bills have fixed and variable components, currently the breakdown is 90 percent variable costs, which are based upon how much energy a household actually uses, and 10 percent fixed costs. They explain that in the OPPD system the fixed charges are utilized in infrastructure, personnel and equipment charges.

For the utility itself, 70 percent of its costs are fixed and 30 percent are variable. What has been proposed is an increase in fixed rate charges on residential bills with decreased stake in variable charges per billing cycle. The utility states that with emerging trends of increasing fixed costs and decreasing energy usage as energy efficient behavior and technology, the old model is bringing in enough revenue for the utility to operate and to be able to make the payments it needs to.

The utility will be holding seven meetings that are open to ratepayers that will take place at the end of October up until Nov. 5.

During this meeting, the board of directors also approved a contract with Thermal Engineering International to replace equipment at the Nebraska City Power Station Unit 1, along with other items.