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8.11.06 A cushion against price hikes Members of the Metropolitan Utilities District board have run the utility efficiently, for the most part. It's not easy, however, to hold down prices in Omaha when prices nationally are at all-time highs. But the board and management of the publicly owned entity have found a way. It's a modest way, true, but it should offer M.U.D. customers long-term savings. The utility will join other public utilities in the region to form the Central Plains Energy Project. That organization would float tax-exempt bonds to form a pool of money to pay up-front costs for 10- to 20-year sales contracts for natural gas. This is important because, as consumers have seen recently, the price of natural gas is volatile and can jump skyward quickly. Lengthy contracts sweetened with up-front payments from the energy project pool would lock in not gas prices, per se, but a long-term discount over market rates. That means utilities such as M.U.D. could buy gas at below-market prices for years to come. And that would give M.U.D. customers a bit of a cushion against rising prices. That's quite a fine plan. |
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