The Omaha Public Power District’s board of directors will be voting on a proposal to greatly increase board members’ salaries at its Thursday meeting. OPPD is also proposing an 8% residential rate increase.

The Nebraska Chapter Sierra Club understands the rationale for these actions, but we are concerned about how this will affect their customer owners, particularly their traditionally underserved customer owners. OPPD’s own studies have found that a significant number of the utility’s customer owners have a substantial energy burden, particularly those who reside in North Omaha. OPPD’s rationale for taking these financial steps applies equally to their customer owners. Both are subject to inflation and both are having challenges meeting their financial needs.

It is with this in mind that the Nebraska Chapter Sierra Club is recommending that OPPD make greater efforts to help its customer owners weatherize their homes and add solar energy. The best way to reduce electric bills is to make buildings energy efficient. Currently OPPD offers both residential and commercial products and services aimed at improving energy efficiency and saving money, but the utility could make improvements not only in how it publicizes these programs but also in increasing the incentives and partnering with local governments in OPPD’s jurisdiction. Following are some of Lincoln Electric System’s (LES) and the City of Lincoln’s incentives that more often than not exceed OPPD’s and local officials.

LES incentives:

                  Heat pump incentives; LES offers $800 per heat pump. In addition to that the City of Lincoln offers the following incentives:

                  -For the general public, there is a $500 incentive for a household replacing a heat pump with a new heat pump; added to the $800LES inactive that totals $1,300.

                  -For the general public, there is a $1,500 incentive for a household replacing an air conditioner with a heat pump. Added to the $800 LES incentive, that totals $2,300.

                  -For a low- to moderate-income household, there is a $3,000 incentive to install a heat pump. Added to the $800 LES incentive, that totals $3,800. Low to moderate income is defined

                   as 80% of the Lincoln area median income.

This program led to more than 300 heat pumps being installed in Lincoln in the first six months of 2024, saving money for customer owners, making homes safer and more comfortable and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

2.             Heat pump water heaters. LES offers a $500 incentive.

3.             Whole house insulation. LES offers up to $1,500.

4.             Qualifying air conditioners. LES offers up to $600.

5.             Customer generation. LES provides a one-time incentive of $37 per kw nameplate capacity for south-facing solar projects and $475 per kw nameplate capacity for west-facing or tracking

                  solar facilities, up to a maximum of 100 kw.

Another program that is used by many other utilities around the country is on-bill financing. The Nebraska Sierra Club and many other organizations have encouraged OPPD, unsuccessfully, to offer this option for several years. The way that on-bill financing works is that it allows the utility to incur the cost of the upfront financing of clean energy or energy efficiency upgrades, which is then repaid on the utility bill.

On-bill repayment options require customers to repay the investment through a charge on their monthly utility bill, but the customer owners can reap the energy savings as soon as the upgrade is complete. Some utilities partner with banks and others to provide the service in-house.

The Nebraska Sierra Club appreciates that Nebraska public power utilities provide electricity at a lower cost compared to national and regional utilities. However, that does not mean that they cannot improve the methods by which their customer owners can save on their energy costs.

OPPD should be tapping into appropriate opportunities for  funding from the One Red: Reducing Emissions and Decarbonization $307 million grant that the Nebraska Department of Environment & Energy has received. This grant includes funding for nonresidential energy efficiency and nonresidential solar projects, both of which could help OPPD’s customer owners. Another program that OPPD should access for the benefit of its customer owners is the $62 million Solar for All grant which has been awarded to the Center for Rural Affairs.

Helping customer owners to improve energy efficiency and/or adding solar energy can help OPPD and its customer owners. That should be a large part of what public power should do.

Ken Winston, community organizer for the Nebraska Chapter Sierra Club, contributed to this commentary. This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/11/21/as-oppd-votes-to-raise-its-rates...

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