Goal Vision History Who We Are Benefits of Public Power Employees Office Locations Board of Directors     How to Order Electric Service Billing Service Fees Area Lighting Program Youth Energy Camp How to Read Your Electric Meter Paying Your Electric Bill Report Electric Outages Operating Cost of Household Appliances Types of Electric Heat Electric Heating Incentive Programs     Communities Living in the Area Quality of Life Working in the Area Enjoying the Area Planning & Promoting the Area     Irrigation Load Control Crop & Livestock Production Land & Climate Profile     DirectTV     Commitment to Safety Check-up on Electrical Safety Overhead Power Lines & Grain Bin Location

Goal The goal of South Central PPD is to make electricity available to our customers at the lowest cost consistent with sound economy and good management. This is accomplished with a highly-trained and efficient staff, load management techniques designed to improve load factor, and marketing programs that disseminate information and promote the benefits of electricity.

Vision The vision of South Central PPD is to energize rural and urban communities in south central Nebraska and tie them together through communication and economic development. This vision is directed at improving the quality of life of our customers by striving to bring economic development and other services to the area by participating in area development projects and organizations.

History

As an electric utility, South Central PPD is relatively young. Many municipal utilities in Nebraska were organized in the 1880’s and 1890’s. Rural areas were much slower to develop as it was more expensive to extend electric service to all the farms in an area.

The Rural Electrification Administration (REA), created in 1936, changed all that. REA made loans available for electric service in rural areas that brought electricity and jobs to rural America.

While World War II halted the development of these rural electric systems, after the war there was rapid economic and electrical system growth. The state’s need for electricity doubled in just the six years from 1945 to 1951 and then doubled again and again.

The first meeting to discuss the possibility of organizing a rural electric cooperative for Webster and Nuckolls County was held in Red Cloud, NE, on January 10, 1945. With the inclusion of Clay County in the service area for this new electric utility, it was decided that the office for South Central would be established in Nelson to make it more centrally located.

The first REA loan for electric line construction was secured in 1946 and construction began on the first 200 miles of the system we know today as South Central Public Power District. On April 28, 1949, South Central Membership Association’s first distribution line was energized. John L. Scroggin of Oak, President of the South Central Membership Association, turned on the electric power on April 28, 1949 at the Blue Hill sub-station. This was a big day when electricity came to rural south central Nebraska.

In 1961, the South Central Membership Association was reorganized as a Public Power District to take advantage of tax and other structural advantages.

In the 1990s, the Public Power Districts in Nebraska were planning future strategies to better serve their customers. These strategies included the realignment of some Nebraska Public Power District retail towns to the Rural Power Districts. In March of 2000, South Central Public Power received the first of 12 towns to be realigned and completed the realignment process in December 2000.

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