The GOP-heavy primary for Montana’s utility-regulating PSC

On June 4, most voters in and around Billings, Missoula, Bozeman, Helena and Butte will have an opportunity to revise the composition of an under-the-radar state commission that has an outsized influence on Montana’s energy mix and residents’ monthly power bills. 

The Public Service Commission might have a modest public-awareness footprint due to the highly technical nature of its work, but the commission has recently made impactful decisions that are shaping the state’s energy landscape, even as U.S. Congress and the administration of President Joe Biden have introduced far-reaching federal policies aimed at remaking energy production in the United States. 

Such shifts in the state and federal energy landscape include a 24% increase in electricity rates approved by the PSC last year, Congress’ passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, and the constitutional climate trial that brought a national spotlight to the state’s energy policies.

The PSC’s formal mandate, per Montana law, is to “supervise and regulate the operation of public utilities.” Such utilities include power, telecommunications, water and garbage-hauling companies, and the PSC’s job is to balance the financial health of those utilities with the interests of ratepayers, who don’t have the option to shop around for alternative providers. 

This year, voters will choose the occupants of three seats on the PSC, which has been monopolized by Republicans for nearly two decades. Five Republicans are running for two of the seats. The other seat is held by incumbent Republican commissioner Jennifer Fielder, who is running unopposed for a second four-year term. 

Two Democratic candidates for the commission are unopposed in the June 4 Democratic primary. 

DISTRICT 3

The seat that’s drawn the most candidates represents southwestern and parts of central Montana. All of Butte and parts of Bozeman and Helena are incorporated into the District 3 seat, which is currently held by James Brown, an attorney who has served as the commission’s president since he assumed his post in 2021. Brown, who ran unsuccessfully for the Montana Supreme Court in 2022, is foregoing a second term on the PSC to run for Montana auditor.

The District 3 candidate with the most political experience is Jeff Welborn, a Republican from Dillon who will term out of office in 2025 after spending the better part of two decades in the state Legislature. He says his tenure at the Capitol, which included stints on energy, transportation, natural resource and budget committees, reflects his commitment to public service and familiarity with aspects of the PSC’s work. 

“I understand the ingredients that go into energy production, from hydro to the thermal resources — gas and coal,” he told Montana Free Press in a recent interview. “I understand the role of the commission work and the challenges facing energy producers.”

Welborn, who owns a trailer dealership and is a professional auctioneer, said he will represent the interests of Montana’s agricultural producers and small business owners. Protecting consumers against “unfair rate increases” is a central piece of his platform, as is his preference for an “all-of-the-above” energy policy. 

Welborn, 55 as of Election Day, describes himself as a “free market guy” who believes that electricity generation sources shouldn’t be propped up with subsidies pulled from taxpayer pockets. He added that he’s intrigued by the nuclear plant under construction in Wyoming, and described electricity generated from hydrogen — a still-developing source that’s regularly discussed by state legislators — as “clean and green as it gets.”

Asked about the appropriate relationship between the PSC and the monopolies it regulates, Welborn said it’s the commission’s role to ensure consumer interests are given their due.

“NorthWestern Energy is a respected member of our business community in Montana. They provide an absolutely vital service to hundreds of thousands of Montanans — if not them, then who? There is nobody else,” Welborn said. “I don’t think the commission’s role is to put them or anybody else out of business, but to make them give the ratepayer a fair shake.”

Republican Rob Elwood, an IT professional and member of the Harlowton City Council, argues that while Welborn is a “nice guy” and pleasant to talk to, he isn’t a good fit for a regulatory agency that is, he says, “confrontational by nature.”

“We differ, I think, in our approach to the regulation piece of the job,” said Elwood, a former member of the Army National Guard who ran unsuccessfully for the commission as an independent in 2020. “The PSC needs to be — ‘bad guys’ is not the right term. They need to be the regulatory entity. It’s not a fun role, but that is the job of the PSC.”

Elwood, 64 as of Election Day, said he’s passionate about rail safety, and described the lack of cell phone coverage and internet access in parts of eastern Montana as a “travesty.”

He said the commission has a duty to uphold the environmental protections enshrined in Montana’s Constitution, an issue that’s garnered increased public interest after 41 businesses and nonprofits petitioned the PSC to incorporate climate impacts in its regulation of utilities like NorthWestern Energy. (In April, the commission voted to extend public comment on that petition, which asks the PSC to incorporate a framework called “social costs of greenhouse gases” when evaluating the costs and benefits associated with different power sources.)

“I’m environmentally conscious, as are most people who live and work around the agricultural industry, but I approach it from a reasonable point of view,” Elwood said. He’s also quick to point out that the “personal opinions of the commissioners” shouldn’t influence their work, as outlined in Montana law.

Elwood, who works remotely for Altera Digital Health, argues that technology is the answer to several issues that fall under the commission’s purview, from railway safety to preparing the state’s power grid for a growing number of electric vehicle drivers.

“What we have to do is use things like smart metering and rate adjustments based on time-of-day usage … to incentivize people with electric vehicles to charge in off-hours when they don’t impact the grid so much,” said Elwood, who owns a Tesla Cybertruck. “I know this because I live it.” 

Elwood also said he thinks geothermal energy deserves a closer look in Montana and wonders whether it could be a cost-competitive source of energy, given that the coal-powered plant in Colstrip is facing eye-popping upgrades to comply with emissions standards the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted in April.  

Rounding out the list of Republican candidates for the District 3 seat is Suzzann Nordwick, a metallurgical engineer from Walkerville who is president of the Montana Federation of Republican Women. Nordwick, like Elwood, describes her lack of legislative experience as an asset for the role.

“I think Montanans should elect candidates who are well-rounded professional experts and not career politicians,” she told MTFP. 

Nordwick said she’s committed to developing Montana energy to protect in-state jobs and the “only true Trump Republican” in the race. Campaign materials foreground Nordwick’s  positions on social issues ranging from transgender teenagers’ use of puberty blockers to abortion and “[protecting] students from woke insanity in schools.” 

Nordwick, 61 as of Election Day, argues that Welborn is a RINO, or Republican in Name Only, with a “crappy voting record [on] personal freedoms.” (Asked to respond to that critique, Welborn said he’s “always let my conscience be my guide” and asked, “What votes are we looking at, and how do they relate to the work of the seat I’m running for?”)

Nordwick, who pursued several unsuccessful bids for state legislative seats over the past decade, argues that her professional experience working with companies such as  DuPont and the Sunshine Silver Mining and Refining Company gives her a leg up with the technical aspects of the commissioners’ job. 

“I’m used to working in complex systems and analyzing each step,” she said. “What’s it adding, what’s it costing and what is its benefit to the consumer?”

Asked to take a position on the climate rulemaking petition currently before the PSC, Nordwick hedged. She said she’s followed the proceedings and found that good points were made on both sides, but said it would be inappropriate to take a public position given the commission’s quasi-judicial role in the matter.

DISTRICT 2

The Republican primary in District 2, which includes much of south-central Montana, including most of Billings and Bozeman’s eastern reaches, is unique in that both candidates have formerly held the seat they’re seeking. State Sen. Brad Molnar of Laurel served on the commission from 2005 to 2012; Kirk Bushman of Billings served on the commission from 2013 to 2016. Bushman narrowly lost re-election bids in 2016 and 2020, both times to Tony O’Donnell, who terms out of the seat at the end of this year.

Molnar, 74 as of Election Day, told MTFP he plans to leave the Senate in the midst of his second term regardless of the results of the PSC election because he’s frustrated that his colleagues in the Legislature “are still debating the same issues we were debating when I was in the House in the ’90s” and because he’s troubled by the “xenophobia” and shift in conservative thought he’s found there in recent years. 

“This is where my passion is and where I can do the most good,” Molnar said of the PSC. “I’m going to win the fights I can win in the battle that is the biggest battle in Montana that nobody recognizes.” 

More specifically, Molnar said, the commission should apply more scrutiny to the costs and technical constraints of different energy sources so consumers aren’t stuck paying for overly expensive electricity, whether through the cost-recovery of a utility-owned plant or day-ahead purchases from merchant sellers during periods of peak demand. Molnar described himself as someone who keeps an “open mind” about energy issues, and as a legislator he’s demonstrated a willingness to vote against his party, though likely at a political cost: None of the 27 bills he sponsored in the past two sessions became law.

Molnar insists he “doesn’t give a rip what the lobbyists” for companies under the PSC’s purview want. The metric he uses to evaluate the appropriateness of a given policy is whether it’s good for the “employers and families of Montana, long-term and short-term,” he said.

Molnar also said he has lived long enough to see climate change in action, and points to the greatly reduced snowpack in his native Indiana as proof of its impact.

“Is man-caused CO2 part of it? Yeah. How much? I don’t know,” he said. “Do I think we can do anything about it? No.”

Molnar, who founded a construction company and serves on the state Senate’s energy and taxation committees, said he brings an ability to “take preemptive actions” on the commission before challenges to a commission decision land before a judge. That’s likely a reference to recent court orders finding that the commission demonstrated prejudice against smaller renewable producers as they worked out terms with NorthWestern to govern payment for the electricity small producers contribute to the grid.

“I think that the important part is not your vote of the moment. It is: Do you see what is coming and can you avoid it or help it before that final vote — before the judge gets a shot at it?” Molnar said. “I think right now that ability is more important than just about anything.”

Like Molnar, former commissioner Bushman is familiar with the PSC’s regulatory role and the energy dynamics playing out in the state and nationally. In an interview with MTFP, Bushman said he was compelled to launch another bid for the commission in part because he’s concerned that small renewable projects that can “push themselves onto the utility, whether the utility wants it not” will drive up ratepayer bills. Such access to the grid is authorized under federal laws including the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978.

Bushman, 58 as of Election Day, said he is concerned about that dynamic because it can result in the utility acquiring power when it doesn’t need it. One way to make the system more functional for utilities — and, in turn, for their customers — is to require small power producers to shoulder the cost of a battery, which would give utilities more flexibility regarding the timing of their electricity usage, Bushman said.

Climate-related considerations have no role in the commission’s work, Bushman said, adding that while it might be appropriate for the Montana Consumer Counsel to play a small role in that discussion, drafting climate-oriented regulations and rules should generally fall to the Montana Legislature.

“I don’t believe that the PSC is where that decision should be made,” said Bushman, a mechanical engineer by profession. “I will push back on the agendas of the environmentalists using federal policy to push costly technology that doesn’t solve the challenges of today.”

Like Nordwick, a fellow engineer who is running in District 3, Bushman’s pitch to voters foregrounds his technical expertise. He said he’s been contracted to work on some of the largest producers and consumers of electricity in the state, including the Colstrip coal-fired power plant and Sibanye-Stillwater, which mines platinum and palladium in southern Montana.

“I have a unique understanding of the challenges that [energy producers and consumers] face. I have a record of working with people and bringing people together to find practical solutions that work for everyone involved,” said Bushman, who said he will likely continue to do some engineering consulting if elected.

Bushman said three problems facing industrial and residential ratepayers in Montana are high interest rates, inflation and the impact of federal regulations exemplified in President Joe Biden’s climate agenda. Asked to describe the commission’s role in mitigating those pressures, Bushman said commissioners can communicate Montanans’ concerns and priorities to federal agencies drafting new regulations and rules. 

“In the past, we played a role with the [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] when they were doing the Clean Power Plan,” he said. “I think that’s important — that the PSC understand federal issues so that they can put forward comments and push back on ill-founded regulations that have a negative impact on Montana ratepayers.”

OTHER CANDIDATES

PSC Vice-President Jennifer Fielder, a Republican from Thompson Falls, is running for re-election to the District 4 seat, which includes the far-northwestern corner of the state. She is unopposed in that race.

Two Democrats, Bozeman resident Susan Bilo and Leonard “Lenny” Williams of Butte, have filed for open seats on the commission as well — the former in District 2 and the latter in District 3. Since neither has a primary challenger, MTFP will report on their campaigns closer to the Nov. 4 general election.

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