Omaha Public Power District is on solid financial footing according to a report shared with its board of directors this week. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Bishop presented his annual Strategic Directive (SD) 3: Access to Credit Markets monitoring report during board committee meetings Tuesday.
Per the directive, OPPD must maintain financial ratios and targets to ensure efficient and cost-effective access to credit markets. Among the measurements for this goal is a total debt service coverage ratio, or how easily a company’s operating cash flow can cover its annual interest and principal obligations. Bishop said the district continues to meet its target of 2.0 times, meaning it can cover its debt service twice, given its annual operating income.
When making resource decisions, OPPD must consider long-term revenue requirements, debt-to-capitalization ratio, minimum risk-adjusted liquidity levels, competitive position, financial risk and financial flexibility. The utility’s goal is to maintain a “AA” rating with Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s credit rating agencies, which Bishop noted it met once again in 2023, as it has for the past five years.
“When we have opportunities to refinance existing debt, that positive credit rating is critical,” Bishop said.
He noted that meeting the utility’s financial goals is a companywide effort, with “all hands on deck” to be good financial stewards for our customers.
“As we think about our work in the coming years, making sure we have more affordable, reliable, sustainable and connected service is really important,” he said. “Our strong financial health helps facilitate that.”
The board accepted the SD-3 monitoring report at this evening’s monthly meeting, meaning board members find the utility to be sufficiently in compliance with the directive.
Arbor Day storm power restoration
Tornadoes significantly damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes in OPPD’s service territory on Friday, April 26. The storms left more than 10,000 customers without power. During this week’s board committee meetings, utility leaders shared a report on how the district came together to restore power to impacted communities.
Many of the repairs were quite complex, and the mud-logged debris-filled terrain was tough for our trucks to navigate. OPPD employees, with help from mutual aid partners, safely and quickly restored power to all impacted customers still capable of receiving service by Tuesday, April 30.
The utility committed to early and frequent communications to keep customers, community partners and the public informed on restoration progress, resources and next steps. Our customers responded positively with patience and words of encouragement as our crews on the front lines and behind the scenes worked to restore power during this difficult event.
OPPD uses storm events as learning opportunities, continually seeking ways to improve our response – from restoration times to communications with customers.
New clean power capacity collaboration
As first announced at Tuesday’s board committee meetings, OPPD is making strides to reliably power Nebraska’s future with a new clean capacity collaboration with Google and NextEra Energy Resources LLC. The collaboration will allow OPPD to access 600 megawatts (MW) of wind capacity from NextEra Energy Resource’s High Banks Wind Energy Center.
The High Banks Wind Energy Center, which is owned and operated by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources LLC, has been online since December 2023 as a part of Google’s long-term clean energy portfolio. Google is now supplying this capacity resource to OPPD and will retain the energy and environmental attributes from the project to support its 24/7 carbon-free energy goals.
Capacity contracts are important tools that allow electric utilities like OPPD to meet regulatory requirements that help ensure utilities have adequate resources to deliver power to customers. This project will help OPPD make significant strides in ensuring reliability as its service area experiences unprecedented growth.
Other action
In other action, directors:
- Approved the March 2024 financial report, April 2024 meeting minutes, and the May 16, 2024, agenda.
- Approved the Health Plan – 2023 Annual Report on the district’s self-funded health plan.
- Accepted the SD-15 Enterprise Risk Management monitoring report. Acceptance means the board finds the utility sufficiently in compliance with the directive.
- Accepted the SD-3 Access to Credit Markets monitoring report. Acceptance means the board finds the utility sufficiently in compliance with the directive.
- Received the monthly President’s Report, available to view at OPPD.com/BoardMeeting.
Next board meetings
The next all-committees meeting will be held Tuesday, June 18, at 10 a.m. at Blue Cross Blue Shield, 1919 Aksarben Dr. in Omaha. The public may attend this meeting in person or virtually, via Webex. The meeting link and instructions will be available at OPPD.com/CommitteeAgenda, beginning about 9:45 a.m., depending on the duration of a preceding closed-session meeting, if needed.
The next monthly board meeting is Thursday, June 20, at 5 p.m., both in person at the Legislative Chamber of the Omaha Civic Center, 1819 Farnam St. in Omaha, as well as virtually via Webex. Members of the public who wish to attend virtually will be able to access the meeting link and instructions at OPPD.com/BoardAgenda, beginning at 4:45 p.m.