Custer Public Power District was organized on September 19, 1944, but it was not until the Fall of 1945 that the installation of poles, power lines and other equipment necessary to bring electricity to the rural home was finally completed and the first customers received power. Today Custer Power supplies electric power over 4600 miles of distribution lines, and is geographically the largest rural public power district in Nebraska serving over 8000 square miles of territory.
 
Our mission is to safely deliver electricity to our customer/owners, keep the District in a sound financial position, and exceed expectations in service and reliability.
 
Electrical generation equipment first began to appear in Nebraska in the early 1880s. As the use of electricity became more common, businessmen formed companies and entered into contracts with cities and towns to provide electric service, primarily for street lighting and, in larger cities, streetcar service. At the time, most power plants were small hydroplants or small coal- or diesel-powered plants. By the start of the 20th century, private companies had replaced towns and cities (also called municipalities) as the main providers of electricity (43 private companies compared with 11 municipal systems in 1902). However, this trend was about to change as improvements in technology favored municipal development.
 
Economic considerations played an important part of the early development of municipal providers because they could generally provide electricity at a much lower cost than private companies. But another important reason was Nebraskans’ desire for local control of their power supplies.
 
While residents of cities and towns in the early 1900s were faced with the choice of developing their own municipal electrical systems or obtaining their power from private companies, very few residents of rural areas had access to electricity. In fact, less than five percent of farms had electricity by 1920, and this in a state where a large portion of the population lived on farms.
 
Living on a farm in the early 20th century meant long hours of labor for men, women and children alike. Without electricity, rural residents could not take advantage of new labor-saving devices powered by electric motors. At the same time, it was becoming apparent that irrigation was necessary to sustain life on farms, particularly in western Nebraska where rainfall was often scarce. The development of irrigation and power generation soon became closely linked in efforts to improve the quality of life for Nebraska’s rural population.