NEBRASKA PUBLIC POWER DISTRICT 2020 FINANCIAL REPORT Powering Nebraskans. Past. Present. Future. 2 0 2 0 0 - 97 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS BOARD OF DIRECTORS & ............................................... 1 SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM MESSAGE FROM BOARD CHAIRMAN .......................... 2 AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER FINANCIAL REPORT ........................................................... 4 Vision Enhancing the quality of life for Nebraskans, through public power, now and in the future. Mission Safely generate and deliver reliable, low-cost, sustainable energy and related services, while providing outstanding customer service. CORPORATE PROFILE Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), a public corporation and political subdivision of the State of Nebraska, operates an integrated electric utility system including generation, transmission and distribution facilities. NPPD owns or has operating control of 31 generating facilities. This diverse power resource mix produces energy from a variety of fuel sources including coal, nuclear, natural gas, oil, hydro, wind and solar. NPPD operates 5,351 miles of transmission and subtransmission lines and 2,485 miles of distribution lines. Revenues are primarily derived from wholesale power supply agreements with 46 municipalities and 24 public power districts and/or cooperatives. NPPD also serves more than 92,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in 79 Nebraska communities at retail. Formed by a merger on January 1, 1970, NPPD works in partnership with other utilities, businesses and community leaders to help serve more than 600,000 Nebraskans with retail or wholesale electric power and energy- related services. Contol of NPPD and its operations is vested in an 11-member Board of Directors, popularly elected from within NPPD’s chartered territory, including all or parts of 86 of Nebraska’s 93 counties. BY THE NUMBERS Generating Facilities Residential, Commercial and Industrial Customers 31 92,000 Transmission and Subtransmission Lines Retail Communities 5,351 miles 79 Distribution Lines Works in Partnership with other Utilities to Serve More Than 2,485 miles 600,000 Nebraskans Wholesale Power Supply Agreements 46 Municipalities NPPD’s Chartered Territory 86 of Nebraska’s 93 counties 24 Public Power Districts BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mary A. Harding Barry D. DeKay Melissa S. Freelend Bill C. Hoyt Charlie C. Kennedy Edward J. Schrock Plattsmouth Niobrara Kearney McCook Scottsbluff Holdrege/Elm Creek Subdivision 1 Subdivision 2 Subdivision 3 Subdivision 4 Subdivision 5 Subdivision 6 Ken Kunze Gary G. Thompson Jerry L. Chlopek William D. Johnson Fred L. Christensen York Clatonia Columbus Pilger Lyons Subdivision 7 Subdivision 8 Subdivision 9 Subdivision 10 Subdivision 11 5 2 10 11 9 7 1 4 3 Aaron Troester Wayne Williams 6 8 2021 Board Member 2021 Board Member (Elected in November 2020) (Elected in November 2020) Subdivision 2 Subdivision 7 SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM Thomas J. Kent (1) Patrick L. Pope (1) Timothy J. Arlt Traci L. Bender Kendall B. Curry President & President & Vice President, Executive Vice President, Vice President, Chief Executive Officer Chief Executive Officer Corporate Strategy & Chief Financial Officer Customer Services & Innovation & Treasurer Chief Customer Officer John A. Dent, Jr. John C. McClure Michael J. Spencer Robyn A. Tweedy Arthur R. Wiese Vice President, Executive Vice President, Vice President, Vice President, Vice President, Nuclear & Chief Nuclear Governmental Affairs Energy Production Enterprise Technology & Energy Delivery Officer & General Counsel Chief Information Officer (1) Mr. Pope served as President and Chief Executive Officer through April 2020 before stepping down to serve as a Special Assistant. Financial Report 1 He was replaced in the position of President and CEO by Mr. Kent, who previously served as Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer. A Message FROM OUR 2020 BOARD CHAIRMAN and CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER CHALLENGES AND CHANGE “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Irish poet Robert Burns inked those words in the 1700s, but little did he know what 2020 would be Barry D. DeKay Thomas J. Kent 2020 Board Chairman President & CEO like as our best-laid plans met a challenge across the globe. The year 2020 will long be remembered as a year of challenges and change. It was expected to be a was normally a workday at the office turned into a celebratory year as Nebraska Public Power District workday in a home office or other workspace, and planned to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of our normal face-to-face meetings became virtual. formation and 50 years of service to Nebraskans. Instead, it was a year of hearing a word not During this pandemic, we learned a bit about commonly used: pandemic. ourselves, too. We learned that many of us were able to work successfully from home long-term, a concept COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, was a we hadn’t delved into much previously, and one that monumental challenge felt not only in Nebraska, will likely continue long after the virus has run its but across the world. Young and old alike were course. asked to change habits, stay home as much as possible, practice social distancing, wash hands While 2020 had its diversions, we continued to focus often and wear masks to help slow the spread of on reliability and affordability for our customers. the virus. Needless to say, our celebration was Operations continued as expected and our financial short-lived. performance exceeded expectations (outlined in this report) despite being in a pandemic. We NPPD examined COVID-19’s impacts on our entered 2021 with no overall rate increase for our workforce and customers. We took necessary retail customers - for the eighth year in a row - and precautions and safeguards to ensure continued likewise for our wholesale customers for the fourth reliable delivery of electricity for our customers and year in a row. In addition, we are providing a financial a workplace that was safe for our employees – with credit back to our customers through their bills for many having the ability to work from home. What the third year in a row. 2 Financial Report While we faced a different challenge than expected, managing business risk with an eye towards it was also a time of transition for NPPD. In May, the future through our Carbon Business Risk the Board of Directors appointed Thomas Kent as Management initiative or what we will refer to as President and CEO to replace Pat Pope, who had part of our “Powering our Future” initiative going served in that position since 2011, who stepped forward. down but continues to focus on rural broadband issues for the District. Technology was at the forefront of our retail division. A three-year project was completed In spite of the many changes COVID-19 caused, we where more than 90,000 advanced metering kept safety paramount. We established new records infrastructure (AMI) meters were installed at for consecutive days worked safely, achieved our homes and businesses in communities served lowest ever OSHA recordable figures, and were at retail. Also introduced was a new “NPPD On recognized as one of Nebraska’s safest companies. the Go” app and web portal for retail customers We ranked first among peer utilities in safety by allowing them to monitor their electric usage, earning the American Public Power Association’s outages, and billing via cell phone. 2020 Safety Award of Excellence. We were fortunate with the weather not causing We continue to have a strong carbon-free any major disruptions on our system, but our generation mix from our diverse generation of crews responded to mutual aid restoration coal, nuclear, natural gas, hydro, wind and solar, efforts in Iowa and Oklahoma, and we also lent serving our customers with 65% of their energy a hand to some of our wholesale customers coming from carbon-free resources on a two-year following an early season winter storm. rolling average basis. Our generating plants and transmission and distribution systems performed While we have faced change never anticipated, well throughout the year and Cooper Nuclear the challenge has been met in ways we did Station was given an excellent recognition by the not foresee, while working from the kitchen Institute of Nuclear Power Operators organization. table or wherever we might find ourselves There continues to be interest in our “Community working virtually. Through the resiliency of Solar” program and the state’s largest solar array our teammates and customers, we met the will come to Norfolk in 2021 which will include a challenges before us and continued our mission battery-energy storage component. to safely generate and deliver reliable, low-cost, sustainable energy and provide outstanding With our Board and customers, we continue to customer service. look at decarbonization of NPPD’s energy mix and Financial Report 3 2020 FINANCIAL REPORT NEBRASKA PUBLIC POWER DISTRICT Statistical Review (Unaudited) 5 Management’s Discussion and Analysis (Unaudited) 6 Report of Independent Auditors 24 Financial Statements 26 Notes to Financial Statements 31 Supplemental Schedules (Unaudited) 62 2020 YEAR AT A GLANCE KILOWATT - HOUR SALES 18.9 BILLION OPERATING REVENUES $ 1,103.1 MILLION COST OF POWER PURCHASED AND GENERATED $ 581.4 MILLION OTHER OPERATING EXPENSES $ 430.4 MILLION INVESTMENT AND OTHER INCOME $ 51.6 MILLION DEBT AND RELATED EXPENSES $ 47.0 MILLION INCREASE IN NET POSITION $ 95.9 MILLION DEBT SERVICE COVERAGE 1.89 TIMES 4 Financial Report 2020 STATISTICAL REVIEW (Unaudited) THE CUSTOMERS – Classifications Average Cents Per kWh Sold Average Average Less Government Cents Per Number of MWh Revenues (in 000's) OPERATING REVENUES Taxes/Transfers⁽¹⁾ kWh Sold Customers Amount % Amount % Retail: Residential ...................... 10.34 ¢ 12.35 ¢ 72,846 856,151 4.5 $ 105,777 9.6 Commercial ..................... 8.26 ¢ 9.71 ¢ 19,362 1,080,545 5.7 104,926 9.5 Industrial ......................... 4.63 ¢ 5.00 ¢ 59 1,335,373 7.1 66,758 6.1 Total Retail Sales .......... 7.32 ¢ 8.48 ¢ 92,267 3,272,069 17.3 277,461 25.2 Wholesale: Municipalities ² .........................................