2018/2019 Business Report
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BUSINESS REPORT 2018/2019 Business Overview ) Cornhusker Public Power District Cornhusker Public Power District cornhusker-power.com 23169 235th Avenue 402 564-2821 PO Box 9 Columbus, NE 68602-0009 CORNHUSKER ( 1 www.cornhusker-power.com CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF HISTORY IN 2018 ornhusker Public Power District was assets over the first six years. Cformed January 1, 1943. With continued growth, more office Property of the former Boone-Nance space was needed. In 1952, staff moved District and the rural from their joint office space division of Loup Power shared with Loup Power District was District to a new building consolidated to create on 22nd Avenue. the new rural district. The combined systems In 1972, headquarters under Cornhusker Public northeast of Columbus was Power District, governed built. by their own board of directors, served 987 In 2018, the Columbus customers. When the office was remodeled. In Loup Board of Directors 2019, a warehouse/pole authorized the formation yard expansion project of Cornhusker Public began, and a new security Power District, their directive was to fence was installed all to accommodate organize a new power district to better the larger size of trucks and add securi- represent the rural people. Cornhusker ty to the premises. Power was the first public power district in the state to be formed from the “A lot of things have changed over the merger of two systems. past 75 years; however, our commit- Top: Warehouse, 1958 ment to provide low-cost, safe and Middle: Construction crew, 1940s By 1945, Cornhusker Public Power reliable energy to our 10,045 customers Bottom: Columbus headquarters, 1970s District was serving electricity to 1,350 is the same. We are proud of our Front cover: Line technician Bryce Theilen customers, with 770 miles of line. history and the opportunity to serve Back cover: Framing a new pole, (l-r) Michael Cornhusker Public Power District more rural Nebraskans,” said CEO/GM Jacobi, Derek Hanson, and Bryce Theilen than tripled in size, customers, and Clay Gibbs. Cornhusker Public Power District is a not-for-profit electric distribution utility that sells electricity at cost to industrial tracts and rural portions of Platte, Colfax, Boone, Nance, Greeley and Wheeler counties in Nebraska. Business report 2 PROFILE EXECUTIVE MESSAGE n Cornhusker Public Power District ornhusker Public Power District It makes you proud to live in a State has 43 full-time and three part-time Cemployees and directors are focused that truly understands the important employees. on meeting our customers electrical things in life. needs. Hopefully as you read this n The District buys power from year’s biannual report, you will see the We encourage you to reach out to Nebraska Public Power District commitment to providing outstanding your elected Director, be engaged in and distributes it to 10,045 electric customer service along with fair and your Public Power District, because we services over 3,245 miles of affordable electricity. continue to feel that local control is the distribution line. strength of Cornhusker Public Power n Customers per mile of line 2018, Cornhusker Public Power District District and the key to another 75 years. is 3.10. marked our 75th anniversary. So much history, hardship, storms, celebrations n The service area covers and milestones over those years, you Galen E. Frenzen 2,250 square miles. can’t help but take a moment to reflect Board President n Cornhusker Public Power on the dedication from the employees District was organized on and from all of our customers over those January 1, 1943. years to make Cornhusker Public Power Clay A. Gibbs District what it is today. CEO/GM n Ten publicly elected board of directors make policy 2019, brought many challenges, decisions. especially early in March, as historic n Headquarters: flooding impacted every Nebraskan. Columbus, Nebraska Despite these challenges, we witnessed the strength that Nebraskan’s have, as n Service Centers: neighbor after neighbor pitched in to Albion, Nebraska lend a hand to those impacted the most. Fullerton, Nebraska Cornhusker Public Power District Six County Service AreaArea Wheeler County The mission of Cornhusker Public Power District is to safely Albion provide our customers with quality electric and customer service Colfax Boone Platte County CountCountyy Greeley County that is fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory. County Nance County Columbus Fullerton Headquarters Service CenterCenter 3 www.cornhusker-power.com Average Cost of Kilowatt Hours Sold 9.7¢ 9.7¢ 9.7¢ RELIABLE SERVICE 9.3¢ 9.4¢ 9.6¢ 9.5¢ system upgrades The lights stay on, in part, to the hard work and ‘13 ‘14 ‘15 ‘16 ‘17 ‘18 ‘19 dedication of our crews. As a result, we enjoy some of the most reliable power anywhere. Over the last Average Cost of Kilowatt Hours Sold four years, we have been able to provide 99.955 percent reliability, based on average outage hours per customer Ten miles of T-2 was built to upgrade circuits out of per year. substation 81-15 Creston circuit 2. Three miles of T-2 was built for a new circuit out of 81-32 Valero substation. 99.984% Three phase voltage regulator banks were built out of 99.974% 99.955% 81-6 Colfax substation. 99.937% Two miles of 3-phase was built north of St. Edward. Cornhusker scores high on operational efficiency 2016 2017 2018 2019 Cornhusker Public Power District scores high in System Reliability operational efficiency compared to other state and national utilities. System upgrades improve reliability Cornhusker Public Power District’s average total operation expense per kilowatt hour (kWh) sold is Cornhusker Public Power District works to ensure stable $.0143. This compares to the national median of voltage and increase capacity when needed. $.0238 per kWh and a state median of $.0228 Engineering and Planning Director Bobby Jones said, per kWh. “We are truly powering the good life here in eastern Nebraska. In 2018, we engineered, built, and energized Cornhusker Public Power District’s total controllable a substation one mile north of Leigh called Maple Creek expenses per kWh sold is 39.92% below the national substation,” said Jones. median and 37.25% below the state median. The figures compiled by the National Rural Utilities One 7,500 KVA transformer was added to the Humphrey Cooperative Finance Corporation compare over substation along with triple and single oil circuit reclosers, 814 non-profit rural electrics. larger buss conductor and regulators. A 5,000 KVA transformer was added to the Schuyler substation. Business report 4 LOW COST ELECTRICITY at work for you Source of Expense Source of Revenues When Cornhusker Public Power District breaks down Residential revenues continued to constitute the largest the average kWh into its expense components, you can see how the percentage of each expense contributes to portion of revenues at 42%. Irrigation revenues accounted for 16% of total revenues. Cornhusker Public Power the overall cost. The largest expense is the cost of power, District makes use of revenue in a manner that balances which was 70.9% of our total expense for 2019. short-term operating expenses with long-term planning. 70.9% 1% 42% Wholesale Power Other Residential 11.5% Depreciation/Interest 16% Irrigation 10.1% Operations/Maintenance 7.5% Administration/ 24% Customer Service 17% Industrial Commercial Utility plant worth Cornhusker Public Power District realized a 4.3% increase in utility plant worth from year ended 2017 to Comparison of Revenue to Sales in 2019 year ended 2018: from $97,985,000 to $102,224,000. Year-end 2019, utility plant worth was $106,647,000. Type of Customer kWh Sales Revenue Residential/Seasonal 140,872,071 $15,003,097 Operating revenue Irrigation 29,545,782 $5,726,541 Commercial 69,686,478 $6,060,276 Cornhusker Public Power Districts’ operating revenue has increased over the past five years. In 2018, the Industrial 132,235,620 $8,727,083 District operated on a revenue of $35,429,261. In Other 4,935,522 $406,877 2019, the amount was $35,955,473. 5 www.cornhusker-power.com NEW residential rate restructure USING ENERGY effective October 2018 wisely & safely October 2018, the District went to a three-part billing rate structure which separates distribution costs into a monthly fee, demand charge and energy charge Incentive programs offered based on each customer’s actual usage profile. Cornhusker Public Power District offered two new Cornhusker Public Power District’s AMI metering ENERGYWISESM incentive programs in 2018-2019; platform can read demand (kW) for every residential one was a custom irrigation program and the other meter. Costs can be assigned to each customer based a smart thermostat program. on their actual load profile rather than on rate-class averages used in the past. Nebraska Environmental Trust, NPPD and Cornhusker Public Power District began a new Cornhusker Public Power District charges only what program to incentivize customers who purchase an it costs to keep the lights on for our customers; rates electric vehicle ($4,000), install a charging station are not marked up to generate profit. The directors ($500), and/or pre-wire their home ($100). and employees watch expenses carefully and are Efficiency programs help customers by reducing committed to providing electricity at the lowest their energy costs. They also help the environment possible cost. by reducing the amount of natural resources required to produce electricity. Monthly fee: To help all customers after the historic flooding cost of providing basic of March 2019, three incentives - cooling system electrical service. 1 tune-up, heat pumps and heat pump water heater rebates were increased 33 percent. In 2018, $149,972 was incented to customers in the form of rebate checks or bill credits.