NEBRASKA POWER REVIEW BOARD
Minutes of the 877th Meeting
September 18, 2026
The 877th meeting of the Nebraska Power Review Board (Board or PRB) was held in the First Floor Hearing Room, Nebraska State Office Building, 301 Centennial Mall South, Lincoln, Nebraska. The meeting was called to order at 9:01 a.m. The roll was called and present were Chairman Hutchison, Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk, Mr. Austin, Mr. Grennan, and Mr. Liegl. The executive director stated that public notice for the meeting had been published in the Lincoln Journal Star newspaper on September 8, 2026. The meeting was available to the public online through Microsoft Teams. The login information was available on the Board’s website. The agenda on the Board’s website provided links to the agenda items with associated documents the Board will consider, as well as a link to the Nebraska Open Meetings Act. Executive Director Texel explained that if any member of the public watching the meeting online wanted to speak, they can click on the “raise your hand” icon. They would need to type their name, address and organization (if any) into the “chat.” Anyone wishing to comment on an item or ask a question could also type the comment or question in the chat function and the Board’s staff would read the question or comment to the Board. All background materials for the agenda items to be acted on were provided to all Board members prior to the meeting and a copy of the materials was in each Board member’s meeting notebook. The executive director announced that a copy of the Nebraska Open Meetings Act was on display on the south wall of the room, and another copy was available in a black three-ring binder on the table at the back of the room. A copy of all materials that the Board would consider was available for public inspection, as well as extra copies of the agenda.
The Board first considered the draft minutes from its August 21, 2026, public meeting. The minutes had been sent electronically to the Board members. The staff was not aware of any corrections needed, and no one contacted the Board to request any changes. Mr. Grennan moved to approve the minutes. Mr. Liegl seconded the motion. Voting on the motion: Chairman Hutchison – yes, Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk – yes, Mr. Austin – yes, Mr. Grennan – yes, and Mr. Liegl – yes. The motion carried 5-0.
The next item was acceptance of the expense report for the month of August. In August there was $33,555.15 in personal services, $20,194.55 in operating expenses, and $1,303.08 in travel expenses. The total August expenses were $55,053.78. August is the second month of the fiscal year, which equates to 16.66% of the fiscal year. The cashflow worksheet shows the PRB has used 16.62% of its cash fund. Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk moved to accept the August expense report. Mr. Liegl seconded the motion. Voting on the motion: Chairman Hutchison – yes, Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk – yes, Mr. Austin – yes, Mr. Grennan – yes, and Mr. Liegl – yes. The motion carried 5-0.
The next item on the agenda was the director’s report. The first item was an update on Southwest Power Pool activities. Chairman Hutchison stated that the biggest issue is cost allocation. The CARE Team has been working on this since last fall. There is a mechanism that is being worked on that would require a cost share for those large loads that would require any upgrades to transmission when there is an interconnection agreement. In November there will be a vote by the SPP Board of Directors. Mr. Austin asked about the adequacy evaluation. All the different committees are engaged on this subject. Chairman Hutchison stated that it deals with the market in the west, because the west has had more energy emergency alerts. The alerts are reacting to the challenges in the western interconnect concerning how to deal with a load shed and there is not a resource adequacy requirement until 2027. Mr. Grennan asked a question about cost allocation and the work the CARE Team was doing. He thought that the work being done is designed to better identify the reasons why it is necessary for the transmission build outs. Chairman Hutchison told the Board that what SPP is seeing in the analysis is that this is one of the more challenging issues and the investments are not uniform across the region. The magnitude of the costs that are increasing over the years and the benefits do not provide equal sharing across the footprint.
Executive Director Texel stated that the Biennial Report is complete and has been sent out to the print shop. There is a statute that requires the report to be delivered to the Governor and Clerk of the Legislature electronically.
Executive Director Texel told the Board he had opened three informal investigations. The investigations deal with a request from two public power districts that asked to be notified when any energy storage resources (ESRs) would be built in their retail service area. There were three separate updates filed with the PRB concerning ESRs being built in conjunction with a PDREGF. Each PDREGF notice had stated that the facility would or may include an ESR as part of the PDREGF. The public power districts in whose retail service area the ESRs would be located were questioning whether the certifications were valid to meet the requirement for the ESR to be considered part of the PDREGF. Letters were sent requesting additional information from the applicable private developer. The PRB has received the additional documents, but the staff has not had time to review the additional information yet.
The agency’s biennial budget request was submitted on September 15. There were several categories that had changes, referred to in the budget system as “issues.” For example, the Engineering Consultant category was increased from $200,000 to $250,000 due to the fact that the PRB is required to issue a new RFP for the fiscal year 2028 contract, and the Board needs to make sure there is sufficient funding should the bidders require more than the current contract amount. The current contract has used all of its renewal allotments.
The executive director then explained that the Board has two evidentiary hearings scheduled to begin this morning. The hearings will be held during a recess of the public meeting. During the recess, the Board will hear evidence on formal complaint C-58 (Northeast Nebraska PPD v. NPPD) and NPPD’s generation facility application PRB-4082-G. During the recess the Board will be acting in its quasi-judicial capacity. The public can continue to view the public meeting, but no public comments will be allowed. The Board may deliberate following the generation application hearing and, as a courtesy to the applicant, vote on whether to approve the application during the portion of its public meeting held after the meeting is reconvened. The Board went to recess at 9:33 a.m.
The Board reconvened its public meeting at 3:52 p.m. During the recess it held the hearings on formal complaint C-58 and PRB-4082-G. All members of the Board were again present.
Executive Director Texel then updated the Board on formal Complaint C-57. This is the show-cause hearing after which a majority of the Board ruled that Vecino Natural Bridge was supplying electricity to its tenants in the Muse Apartment complex in Omaha in violation of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 70-1011. There is no settlement offer for the Board to act on yet. This agenda item will appear on next month’s agenda so the Board may consider it if a settlement offer is received.
Executive Director Texel told the Board he attended the Nebraska Power Association (NPA) Board of Directors meeting that was held on September 17. He told the NPA that a new RFP for the SPP consultant contract is needed. The NPA Board members asked that the Board consider whether the consultant should instead be a full-time employee position with the PRB and no longer a contract position. Executive Director Texel said he had explained that he and the Board could certainly consider that change, but it would need to be approved by the Governor’s Budget Office and the Legislation. Given the salary needed for such a specialized engineer, the current budget constraints, and the hiring freeze in place, making such a change would likely be quite difficult.
Executive Director Texel next told the Board the agency had received a subpoena, addressed to him as executive director, to produce documents as part of a civil action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The case is captioned State of Texas, et. al., v. BlackRock, Inc. and State Street Corp. Texas filed a lawsuit against BlackRock and State Street alleging antitrust violations. It is his understanding the cause of action is regarding their actions attempting to destroy the coal and natural gas industry. Sara Birkett, the Board’s paralegal, put together a draft of the responses and documents addressing the subpoena. Now the executive director needs to review the information and determine if anything further is required.
The executive director gave an update on staff activities. Last month, the Board did not receive any applications for distribution line extensions that are less than ½ mile in length.
The next item on the agenda was to consider PRB-4082-G. This is the application on which the Board held an evidentiary hearing during the recess of its public meeting. The application was filed by NPPD for authority to construct a generation facility with a capacity of 717 megawatts (MW), consisting of three 239 MW simple cycle combustion turbines in Lancaster County near the Village of Hallam. The location is adjacent to the project area of a previous NPPD application filed by NPPD, which was designated PRB-4061-G. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission found that since the location of the facility was adjacent to the previous application, and not much time had passed since the previous application, the letter regarding mitigation actions to protect threatened and endangered species provided in response to the PRB-4061-G application was applicable to the PRB-4082-G application, also. Mr. Austin moved to find that the application will serve the public convenience and necessity and that NPPD can most economically and feasibly supply the electric service resulting from the proposed construction without unnecessary duplication of facilities and therefore application PRB-4082-G be approved, subject to NPPD following the recommendations described in the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in its consultation letter to the Board dated September 16, 2025, regarding application PRB-4061-G. Mr. Grennan seconded the motion. Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk seconded the motion. Voting on the motion: Chairman Hutchison – yes, Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk – yes, Mr. Austin – yes, Mr. Grennan – yes, and Mr. Liegl – yes. The motion carried 5 – 0. Chairman Hutchison made a statement that he was appreciative of the utilities of Nebraska making the necessary steps to build the generation necessary to supply Nebraska with its energy needs.
The executive director stated that the written order will be the final action on the application, but the Board provides an answer to the utilities as a courtesy so they can take actions such as signing contracts and beginning construction activities. The written order will be issued in about two months.
Executive Director Texel noted that the next three meetings are October 16, November 20, and December 18, 2026.
Mr. Liegl moved to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Grennan seconded the motion. Voting on the motion: Chairman Hutchison – yes, Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk – yes, Mr. Austin – yes, Mr. Grennan – yes, and Mr. Liegl – yes. The motion carried 5 – 0. The meeting was adjourned at 4:01 p.m.
Timothy J. Texel
Executive Director and General Counsel
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