LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME


[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]

Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

Get weekly updates
RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Stripe

Donate via Paypal

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

PSC finalizes rate increase of about 6% for MDU electric customers in E. Montana 

Credit:  By MIKE DENNISON Gazette State Bureau, billingsgazette.com 26 July 2011 ~~

HELENA – After a lengthy discussion, a divided state Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved an approximate 6 percent increase in electric rates for Montana-Dakota Utilities’ 25,000 customers in far Eastern Montana.

The five-member panel voted 3-2 to adopt a negotiated settlement between MDU and the Montana Consumer Counsel, setting the increase at about half what the Bismarck, N.D., utility had asked for a year ago.

MDU said the increase is needed to pay for the company’s increased investment in two wind power projects near the Montana-North Dakota border and related infrastructure.

Company spokesman Mark Harmon said Tuesday that MDU feels the outcome is a “fair settlement.” Most of MDU’s Montana electric customers are in Miles City, Sidney and Glendive.

The Consumer Counsel, the state agency that represents Montana consumers in rate cases before the PSC, had initially argued that MDU should get an even smaller rate increase, but agreed to settle for the overall 6.23 percent adjustment.

MDU originally asked for a 13 percent increase and was granted a temporary increase in February of just more than 6 percent. The final increase approved Tuesday is nearly identical to the temporary increase, so rates will remain the same.

Residential customers of MDU in Montana will end up with a 5 percent increase over what they paid before February, while most business customers will pay slightly higher rates.

For a homeowner using 800 kilowatt-hours a month, a monthly bill is about $3 higher.

While the company and the state’s consumer office agreed on the increase, PSC members spent nearly two hours arguing over the case Tuesday before voting 3-2 to approve it.

Commissioners Travis Kavulla, R-Great Falls; Gail Gutsche, D-Missoula; and John Vincent, D-Gallatin Gateway, voted for the increase; commissioner Brad Molnar, R-Laurel, and Bill Gallagher, R-Helena, voted against it.

Molnar, whose district includes portions of MDU’s electric service area in Montana, argued that consumers could get a better deal if they paid a market-related price for the power produced by the wind plants, rather than covering MDU’s investment cost at a set price over many years.

He also suggested that MDU asked for an unsupportable high increase and then settled for the increase it wanted, thanks to a pliant Montana Consumer Counsel that capitulated after urging a lesser increase.

“The Consumer Counsel is now backing off their original position and going with the industry simply to end (this),” he said. “I’m having a lot of problems with what MCC is coming up with.”

Kavulla, whose district includes Sidney and Glendive, said Molnar’s suggestion of buying the power at market rates – which Molnar admitted he had come up with on Monday evening – was “being foisted on people as a whim,” and should not be considered.

The Legislature has directed the PSC to encourage utilities to invest in power plants for the long term and allow those investments to be recovered in rates, so consumers can have stable, long-term sources of affordable power, Kavulla said.

“You’re comparing apples and oranges,” Kavulla said of Molnar’s proposal to buy the power back at current market prices. “You’re comparing a spot-market price that exits at the moment. … It’s fallacious to assume an investment over a 25-year period is the same as relying on the day price at market.”

Source:  By MIKE DENNISON Gazette State Bureau, billingsgazette.com 26 July 2011

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Contributions
   Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)
Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI M TG TS G Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook Wind Watch on Linked In

Wind Watch on Mastodon Wind Watch on Truth Social

Wind Watch on Gab Wind Watch on Bluesky