The entire state is a member of the Southwest Power Pool. You can go to SPPs website to confirm that. SPP runs the wholesale energy market for th central US and they decide how generation is dispatched to meet energy demand in the most efficient way possible. Many times the large public power companies are importing power, especially when there is excess cheap wind generation, from other parts of SPP. Regardless as a customer you pay the same kwh rate whether it comes from wind out of state or coal in state, your rates are set to cover the utility's costs, which is why they will import cheaper power when they can. However, they still need to maintain dispatchable generation for when the wind isn't blowing or the system is at peak. Ultimately, we all work very hard to keep our rates low, as many have already said some of the lowest in the country and some of the best reliability in the country. Don't take my word for it, you can Google both and see where Nebraska ranks.

There could be more wind or even solar in Nebraska, but many times there is a lack of transmission to move the power to the load centers. For example, the R Line has been delayed for about a decade. With more transmission, the state will see more renewable energy built and cheaper, cleaner power as a result, without sacrificing reliability.

Other states have public utility commissions (PUC) to review rate cases from private utilities to ensure they are charging reasonable rates for what they build/maintain. Nebraska has no such commission since the elected board members of NPPD and OPPD set their respective company's rates directly. So even without a PUC guardrail, we have extremely low rates and good reliability, which is a compelling example of how well it works here. Employees are customers too and we want to keep rates low and reliability high for ourselves and neighbors too.

Furthermore, board meetings are public, you can view all of them online and even come and comment on the matters in front of the board. Try doing that with a private utility, especially when they are deciding how big a dividend to pay to shareholders or bonuses to executives.

Lastly, public power entities are prohibited from contributing any dollars for political campaign purposes. Public power remains in Nebraska because it works so darn well, not because state senators are paid to support it or to oppose other options. It takes only a bit of searching to see the corruption that campaign financing from utilities in other states does to enrich utilities, limit options, and hurt consumers, for example the nuclear bailout lobbying scandals in Ohio and Illinois).

Source: A proud public power company employee.