            
|
||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
    |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Utilities
Natural gas costs in Omaha are up to 24% below the national average.
Metropolitan Omaha is served by two gas utilities, Metropolitan Utilities District (MUD) and Peoples Natural Gas Company. MUD MUD is a publicly-owned, non-profit water and gas utility with over 2,000 miles of mains and over 165,000 customers. Reliable continuous service is ensured through MUD's own back-up liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility. MUD provides natural gas service to Omaha, Bennington, Fort Calhoun and portions of Bellevue. For additional information, go to www.mudomaha.com, or please contact MUD directly at (402) 554-6666. Peoples Natural Gas Peoples Natural Gas, a division of UtiliCorp United, is an investor-owned, full-service natural gas distribution company. Within the Omaha area, Peoples serves Omaha suburban communities of Blair, Carter Lake, Council Bluffs, Elkhorn, Gretna, LaVista, Offutt Air Force Base, Papillion, Plattsmouth, Ralston, Waterloo, Valley and areas within Bellevue. Omaha is also headquarters of the Northern Natural Gas Company, a subsidiary of Enron, the nation's largest natural gas pipeline company. Northern provides three major natural gas lines to the Omaha area.
Nebraska is the only public power state in the nation. All electric utilities are non-profit and customer-owned, assuring rates that are extremely competitive with other areas of the country. Omaha's has low cost electric rates up to 19 percent below the national average. The Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) is headquartered in Omaha and serves 5,000 square miles in eastern Nebraska. OPPD is a charter member of the Mid-Continent Area Power Pool (MAPP). MAPP coordinates electric power generation and transmission throughout seven upper midwestern states. With reserve generating capacity of over 20 percent, Omaha has room to grow. And with proximity to western low sulfur coal, Omaha's energy needs are assured through the remainder of the decade. For more information, check out www.oppd.com.
Omaha's water supply, for practical purposes, limited only by the system's physical capabilities. Primary sources of water are the Missouri River and a system of wells on the Platte River. Current capacity of MUD's two water treatment plants is 232 million gallons per day, with current average daily demand of 89 million gallons per day. An additional 70 million gallons per day water field is planned by the year 2000. Omaha's water quality meets or exceeds all current and proposed federal water standards.
Omaha's two watersheds are served by the City of Omaha's two modern treatment plants. Current reserve capacity in the system is 216 million gallons per day, with a current operating load of 82 million gallons per day. Omaha's Missouri River sewage trea tment plant was recently named second best in the nation among large cities for facility management and compliance by the Environmental Protection Agency, and was praised for its treatment innovation. Omaha wastewater treatment plants have the capacity to treat high biochemical oxygen demand (B.O.D.) wastes, which are a concern for some manufacturers, especially food processors.
LB 828 gives the utility companies in Nebraska (all are publicly owned) the ability to negotiate lower rates for large business customers. This Legislation authorizes public power districts to negotiate rates, to assist in accomplishing the purposes of the Nebraska quality Jobs Act (LB 829) or to stimulate economic development as an inducement to attract major projects to Nebraska. Such projects must have new or additional energy consumption with a minimum electrical billing demand of 5,000 kilowatts and a minimum load factor of 55%. In addition, such projects must meet investment and jobs thresholds as follows:
For further information, please contact: Brian Ardinger
Home | About SCEDC | The Greater Omaha Advantage | Programs & Services | Selecting A Site | Questions or Comments? Contact us at info@scedc.org Please Read Our Disclaimer |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||