NorthWestern Energy announces another rate increase

NorthWestern Energy’s electric customers could get a double whammy this summer.

On May 30, NorthWestern Energy said it planned an increase of $9.04 on a typical residential electric bill as part of a quarterly adjustment on electric supply.

Earlier last month, the monopoly utility announced it was pushing up rates 17% without regulatory approval, effective May 23. The earlier increase amounts to $17.07 a month on top of a typical residential bill of $101.14, according to NorthWestern Energy.

If the Montana Public Service Commission signs off on the most recent increase, the average residential customer will be paying $127.16 in July, according to information from the agency.

Altogether, that would be a more than 25% increase from May 1 to July of this year.

NorthWestern Energy spokesperson Jo Dee Black said the latest change reflects dollars for electric supply costs generally passed through to customers and adjusted quarterly since 2023.

“This approach helps avoid large, once-a-year adjustments,” Black said in an email.

However, an engineer for the Montana Environmental Information Center said the increase shows NorthWestern’s argument the large gas plant it built in Laurel isn’t offsetting bills as the company promised.

Nick Fitzmaurice, energy transition engineer for the energy watchdog, also said customers will be paying 39.4% more a month this July than they did in August 2022.

“NorthWestern’ subversive tactics unfairly hide the truth from Montanans, who are now paying the price with skyrocketing electric bills,” Fitzmaurice said in an email.

PSC spokesperson Alana Lake said the agency routinely examines a utility’s accounting to ensure accuracy, and the Commission had questions about this recent increase, so it has yet to sign off on it.

However, Lake also said the increase will be implemented unless the PSC finds an error in NorthWestern’s calculations.

“It is important to note that these rates will only be in effect until September 2025,” Lake said, if they are approved. “At that point, (NorthWestern) must file an application with justification for final approval of these adjustments, which will need to be reviewed and approved by the Commission.”

The 17% hike is separate, already in effect, and part of an upcoming hearing on an application for rate increases NorthWestern Energy filed with the PSC in July 2024.

NorthWestern earlier defended the increase it implemented prior to approval by the Montana Public Service Commission — and the PSC confirmed the utility acted legally.

The monopoly energy company said regulators didn’t act on its application for a rate increase in a timely fashion, so it used a law that allows it to implement one on its own in the meantime, after nine months have passed.

However, PSC President Brad Molnar earlier said NorthWestern is responsible for delays in the case, and its customers are going to feel pain as a result of the increase, which he characterized as “crushing.”

A hearing on the rate case will take place starting Monday, June 9, and run possibly through June 20.

If the PSC decides NorthWestern erred in the increase, the company will return the extra money to customers, plus 10%.