Ask just about anyone who invented the light bulb and they will tell you Thomas Edison. But the light bulb didn’t become impressive until someone developed an effective way to transmit electricity. In 1893 at the World’s Fair in Chicago, the general public was introduced to Nicholas Tesla’s alternating current generators that created the path to the way power is still distributed today. It’s that kind of innovation that allows our system to evolve and meet the growing needs of our customers.

And that work can’t be done without engineers. We are fortunate to have an engineering department to assist our customers and think through how to develop our system to best plan for future growth. Once the initial staking and planning are complete, our line workers take over to make those changes a reality.

February 21-27 is National Engineering Week. We at Custer Power would like to take this time to thank our employees in the Engineering and Meter Technician/ Load Control Departments for the work they do to serve our customers, and help us plan for tomorrow.

If you would like to join us in thanking them, feel free to send

a word of appreciation by mailing a letter to PO Box 10, Broken Bow, Ne 68822, calling 308.872.2451, or

posting on our Custer Power facebook and Twitter pages. We wouldn’t fully be celebrating the spirit of engineering if we weren’t also thinking about how to engage the next generation of engineers. Be on the look out in the next couple of weeks as we, Nebraska Public Power District’s Education Team, and the Custer CAPABLE Program partner to engage schools in our district.

Innovation and a belief that electricity should reach every home and business have driven the work we do for the past 72 years. We look forward to continuing to grow and enhance the way our system serves you. And, as you can see, we have a great team to help us do just that.

February 2016

12-A Custer Public Power District February 2016

National Engineering Week is February 21-27

Photos: Clockwise from bottom left- Aaron Eply, AMR Database Administrator, Allen Neth Meter/ Load Management Technician, Darwin Haas, Staking Technician, Jason Chaplin, Staking Technician, Barb Jensen, Engineering Supervisor.

12-B Custer Public Power District February 2016 12-C Custer Public Power District February 2016

Attention High School Seniors in the Custer Public Power District Area

Custer Public Power District is Seeking Applicants for the

CPPD Utility Line ScholarshipThis Scholarship is for 1 or 2 Year Full Tuition

Requirements for the Scholarship:• High School Graduate • Parents or guardians are customers of Custer Public Power District

Applications for the Utility Line Scholarship are available on CPPD’s website at

www.custerpower.com or contact Melissa Garcia at 308.872.2451 or mgarcia@custerpower.com

The Custer Public Power District Scholarship Fund is administered by:

Directors and Staff of CPPD

Deadline for submitting your application is March 1, 2016

Building a New Home? Don’t Forget Your Electrical Inspection Permit!

If you are building a new home it is important to remember that you or your contractor must submit a State Electrical Inspection Application. This permit process ensures that the electrical work in your home is up to code and will be safe for you and your family. Not sure if your contractor has made the call? Have questions about how this process works?

Get in contact with your District Inspector by calling 402.471.3550 orhttp://www.electrical.nebraska.gov

Don’t Forget to Use Our Rebate Incentive Programs When Making Upgrades to Your HomeIn 2016 we will be continuing our rebate programs. In doing so we wanted to make sure you were aware of some changes to the programs. Below is a list of changes. To find a complete listing of our incentive programs log on to our website www.custerpower.com

Heat Pump Water Heater – NEW PROGRAM• $200 incentive for air source heat pump water heaters, with efficiency factor greater than 1.9.• $500 incentive for ground source heat pump water heaters, with efficiency factor greater than 2.8.• No incentive for desuperheaters.

Commercial & Industrial Lighting• Reduced some LED incentives due to reduced LED consumer prices.• Eliminated incandescent replacements of 150 watts or less.• Changed PAR 30 and PAR 38 lighting to $5 for retrofit kits only.• All other aspects of the program remain unchanged.

Residential LED Lighting• Reduced incentive per bulb to $3/bulb, due to drop in consumer prices.• Eliminated minimum wattage and changed to minimum 800 lumens to qualify for incentive.• Updated brochure to include educational material for customer.• All other aspects of the program remain unchanged.

High Efficiency Heat Pump• Increased minimum SEER rating to qualify for an incentive to 15, due to changes in federal standards.• Added a category for variable capacity air source heat pumps.• All other aspects of the program remain unchanged, including the 15 bulb limit.

Commercial HVAC• Increased minimum SEER rating to qualify for an incentive to 15, due to changes in federal standards.• Increased minimum HSPF for air source heat pumps to 8.5 HSPF to match the residential HEHP program.• All other aspects of the program remain unchanged.

Programs Remaining Unchanged:Attic InsulationCooling System Tune-UpHVAC System OptimizationVariable Frequency Drives

Industrial ProcessIrrigationAgricultural – Farrowing Heat MatsEnergy Benchmarking for Commercial Buildings

Recipe by: Taste of Home

12-D Custer Public Power District February 2016

Cinnamon Candy PopcornIngredients PREP TIME: 30 min./ BAKE TIME: 1 hr. plus cooling

8 quarts popped popcorn1 cup butter, cubed1/2 cup light corn syrup1 package (9 ounces) red-hot candies

DirectionsPlace popcorn in a large bowl; set aside. In a large saucepan, combine the butter, corn syrup and candies; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour over popcorn and toss to coat.Transfer to two greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pans. Bake at 250° for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from pans and place on waxed paper to cool. Break apart; store in airtight containers. Yield: 8 quarts.

Nutritional Info Per Serving1 serving (1 cup) equals 152 calories, 9 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 15 mg cholesterol, 161 mg sodium, 18 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 1 g protein

CUSTER CURRENTSNewsletter of the

CUSTER PUBLIC POWER DISTRICT

Broken Bow, NE - Phone 872-2451www.custerpower.com

Serving Custer, Loup, Blaine, Thomas, Hooker, McPherson, Logan and parts of

Sherman, Garfield, Brown, Cherry, Lincoln, and Dawson Counties

Officers & DirectorsWayne V. Licking, Thedford...............PresidentBrad Bartak, Merna....................Vice PresidentGreg Smith, Milburn...........................Secretary Brad Howard, Litchfield.....................TreasurerJohn Blakeman, Merna..............Asst. TreasurerLloyd Ramsey, Broken Bow.................Director Tom Roberts, Loup City........................Director

Staff Rick Nelson............................General Manager

Tom Knott.....................Director of Operations and Loss Control

Cheryl Taylor................Director of Finance and Administration

Board MeetingsThe regular monthly meeting of the Custer Public Power District Board of Directors is on the last Thursday of each month, beginning at 10:00 a.m. in the main office in Broken Bow on Hwy. 2.

An agenda for each regular meeting of the board is available for public inspection during business hours.

In the event of matters of an emergency nature or conflicts with other meeting dates, the Board of Directors will set changes. Any change in the monthly meeting date will be posted in the legal notice at the main headquarters building at Broken Bow and at each of the District’s area service centers located in Callaway, Sargent, Stapleton and Thedford, Nebraska.