Montana utility board: NorthWestern can put $246 million of its new gas plant into customers’ rates
The Montana Public Service Commission on Nov. 19, 2025, signalled its willingness to allow Montana’s largest utility to put the Yellowstone County Generating Station into the electricity rates of the 400,000-plus Montanans it serves.
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Groups push back on Montana’s ‘data center boom’ in petition before utility commission
In a petition before the Public Service Commission, a coalition of groups working on energy, climate and social justice issues argued that hundreds of thousands of Montanans will face higher bills unless the state’s utility regulator provides stricter oversight of NorthWestern Energy, the state’s largest utility. NorthWestern has inked agreements with at least three data…
The future of Montana’s energy landscape through the eyes of industry insiders
During an all-day summit cohosted by the Montana Chamber of Commerce and Gov. Greg Gianforte, energy experts waded into the rise in electricity demand and proposals for Montana projects that could help meet that need.
Montana DOJ raises greenwashing claims in investigation into four Big Tech companies’ energy use
The letter dated Sept. 24, 2025, accuses four of the world’s largest tech companies of engaging in a “shell game” that has implications for the country’s grid. The letter comes as Montana faces burgeoning data center development that could more than double electricity demand for Montana’s largest utility.
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A power plant next door
NorthWestern Energy’s 175-megawatt gas plant in Laurel is a lightning rod in Montana’s ongoing debate over the state’s energy future. We asked some of its neighbors what they think about the industrial behemoth in their backyard.
NorthWestern anticipates spending $18 million annually on operation and maintenance for Avista’s share of Colstrip
NorthWestern Energy is asking the Montana Public Service Commission to approve a new regulatory mechanism for its expanded share of the Colstrip coal-fired power plant.
South Dakota-based Black Hills Corp. plans to buy NorthWestern Energy
South Dakota-based Black Hills Corp. is buying Northwestern Energy. The two utilities announced an all-stock transaction that will result in Black Hills shareholders having a 56% majority in the new company, which will be headquartered in Rapid City.
Political headwinds turn against wind farms in southeast Montana
When landowners in southeast Montana leased their property for wind turbines, they had high hopes the projects would help sustain their personal pocketbooks and community economies. That was before President Donald Trump put terms favoring renewable energy development on pause and their neighbors started lobbying county governments to sandbag wind energy development with zoning.
NorthWestern Energy inks power agreement with proposed AI data center in Yellowstone County
NorthWestern Energy announced on July 30, 2025, that it has signed a letter of intent to provide up to 1,000 megawatts of energy to a data center under development by Quantica Infrastructure, a recently launched commercial enterprise that seeks to build “resilient network solutions for AI.”
NorthWestern Energy, Montana utility board dial back electricity rate hike
The Montana Public Service Commission on July 1, 2025, agreed to authorize the partial electricity rate structure NorthWestern Energy reached with the Montana Consumer Counsel and a handful of the utility’s largest customers.
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Trump administration weighs new coal sales from public lands in Montana and Wyoming
The Interior Department proposal comes after the Biden administration, citing climate change, tried to end sales of the fuel from the nation’s most productive coal fields — the Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana.
Oil field disposal plant in eastern Montana explodes, no injuries
Authorities say a fiery explosion at a storage and disposal plant in the oil fields of eastern Montana was felt by people 10 miles away but caused no injuries or fatalities. Richland County Emergency Manger Brandon Roth says no one was on site when the explosion happened. Roth says emergency crews were waiting to approach…
EPA moves to lift air standards rule, lawsuit follows
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved to reverse the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard rule that the Biden administration implemented last year to reduce airborne emissions of heavy metals and soot when coal is burned to create electricity. The move is being challenged in court.
Gianforte vetoes community solar bill
Senate Bill 188’s sole opponents were Montana’s two monopoly utilities and an organization partially funded by fossil fuel companies.
Attorney general spars with investment firms over coal pricing
A text poll targeting Montanans the weekend of June 7 asked recipients who was more sympathetic, Attorney General Austin Knudsen or “firms that invested in American coal companies.”
About 50 people protest NorthWestern Energy’s rate hike as the state utility board starts 2-week hearing
Less than two years after the Montana Public Service Commission authorized a 28% electricity rate hike for NorthWestern Energy’s residential customers, commissioners are hearing expert testimony on the $874 million of investment the state’s largest utility has made in the ensuing years.
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