Dedicated to providing SAFE, RELIABLE, COST-EFFECTIVE electricity to ALL customers.
ERPPD is a public power district located in Northeast Nebraska serving over 10,000 services and almost 3,000 miles of distribution and sub transmission line. ERPPD has services in the counties of Madison and Antelope; and portions of Pierce, Holt, Boone, Stanton, Wheeler, and Platte counties. The headquarters for ERPPD are in Battle Creek, Neb. For more information, view our Contact Us page.
As a public power district, ERPPD is governed by a nine-member board of directors. Directors are elected in the general election for six-year terms.
History
ERPPD was incorporated in January 1939. We celebrate our anniversary on April 29, 1940, when 116 miles and 148 customers were energized.
A small group of farmers got together in the summer of 1938 and beat many odds to create our public power district.
The little group of men who organized the Elkhorn RPPD could scarcely have selected a worse time. Withering drouths had caused crop failures and farmers were worried and unhappy. They had problems enough without worrying about organizing a power district.
Following is one example of the things that critics were saying: “You’re crazy! You’ll never get enough signers because it will cost too much. Farmers scarcely have the money to buy kerosene for their lamps and lanterns; how are they going to find money for a monthly electricity bill?”
It is to the persevering credit of the little group of men who organized the power district that they didn’t listen to the skeptics and the enemies of rural electrification. They had a vision of someday guaranteeing every farm family the blessing of electricity — and they stuck to the line, letting the chips fall where they would.
A.H. Dederman one of the inaugural directors, took a philosophical view of the hard work, the innumerable meetings, and the vexations and frustrations that went into creating the district. He is quoted as saying, “We never realized what we were starting. We were blindfolded, so to speak, for we didn’t know all the ground rules for getting the district started. Lots of people were quite frank in telling us they didn’t think it was possible to serve our area. They said the farms were too far apart and that it would cost too much to bring electricity out to them. Well, we showed them they were wrong.”
That spirit continues 85 years later. Through ice storms, floods, blizzards, derechos, and a pandemic. The equipment looks a little different but our commitment to serve our customers remains strong and determined.