In this May 31 photo, a solar panel array collects sun light in Fremont, Neb., with a power plant seen behind it. Solar energy is gaining traction in a small but growing number of Nebraska cities, but the technology still faces a number of obstacles that is keeping it from spreading faster. [AP Photo]

The nation's power grid is just a little out of whack.

Analysts report that consumers served by utilities on the nation's East and West coasts pay higher costs for their electricity than we do here.

A big reason for that, they explain, is an abundance of more affordable, renewable power produced in Oklahoma, Texas and other states between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River.

Because the power costs less, it benefits consumers in the nation's central region.