Keep power in the hands of the public

Sell Nebraska's public power utilities? The late Sen. George W. Norris must be turning over in his grave at the thought.

Thursday, a committee of the Nebraska Legislature -- a Unicameral, also thanks to Norris -- decided to not even think about selling off NPPD and the like, killing a bill which would study the idea of privatizing public utilities.

But we can see why it might be tempting to do so, in this day of $211 million state deficits and a possible $151 million judgment over the low-level nuclear waste disposal facility. Nebraska's fiscal resources are being stretched because many of the state's counties are not growing in population, and the average Nebraskan is growing older, said Sen. Kermit Brashear of Omaha, who sponsored the study bill, LB1203.

Brashear said selling the Nebraska Public Power District, Omaha Public Power District and Lincoln Electric System could raise more than $3 billion, which could be put into a trust fund and earn about $150 million a year in interest for the state's budget needs.

But it's not that simple. For one thing, local governments like McCook actually own some of the assets used by NPPD, and trying to sell them would result in a quagmire of lawsuits.

In addition, points out Terry Bundy, administrator and chief executive officer of the Lincoln Electric System, past studies of privatizing the state's electric companies have shown that the costs far outweigh any benefits.

"It's not even close," according to an Associated Press story by Joe Ruff.

Brashear's study would have cost more than $500,000 over two years, another reason to kill the bill.

During his time in Congress, Norris almost single-handedly created the Tennessee Valley Authority to bring low-cost electricity to six southern states along the Tennessee River, and pushed through the Rural Electrification Administration by 1935, which made cheap electric power available to America's farms.

Closer to home, Norris engineered federal construction of a multi-county hydroelectric project on the Platte River, which helped make Nebraska a completely public power state.

Thanks to Norris, Nebraska's electrical rates are among the lowest in the nation, and the state avoided the electrical shortages and price shocks brought on by manipulation and deregulation a few years ago in California.

For the forseeable future, privatization of Nebraska's power system isn't in the cards.

Rest easy, George.