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Last Updated: April 2007
04/03: House Bill 509 (HB 509) was enacted to include limits on the amount of load served by alternate suppliers such that no more than 10,000 kW could be served to small customers and no more than 20,000 kW could be served to medium customers. This bill also defined NorthWestern Energy as the primary default power supplier for the State of Montana and extended the transition period until 2027.
Source: Montana State Legislature
http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2003/billhtml/HB0509.htm
11/02: Voters rejected House Bill (HB 474), thus negating any further restructuring action that would have been put into place due to mandates set forth in the legislation.
Source: The Foundation for Water and Energy Education
http://www.fwee.org/news/getStory?story=998
02/02: The Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) issued a final order that will allow the NorthWestern Corporation to complete its acquisition of the Montana Power Company.
05/01: House Bill 474 was signed into law, significantly altering the existing restructuring legislation, and extending the transition period to July 1, 2007. House Bill 474 allowed customers being served by alternative suppliers to switch to the default supplier providing that the customer did not resell the electricity. The PSC is directed to adopt a mechanism to ensure the default supplier may fully recover electricity supply costs in rates. The Montana Board of Investment was authorized to invest in 450 MW of new generation projects and 120 MW in purchases from PURPA qualifying facilities that met certain criteria. Approved projects must have been contracts for the sale of power to the default suppliers or a Montana industry, and were to be "collateralized by payments from the sale of the electricity produced by the project...." Additionally, House Bill 474 created a Montana Power Authority, financed by revenue bonds, to purchase, construct and operate electric generating, transmission, or distribution systems or enter into joint ventures for these purposes. Also, a Consumer Electricity Support Program was created as a State revenue fund derived from the electrical energy excess revenue tax. The program was formed to promote price stability and fund default customers, Universal Service programs, low-interest loans for new or upgraded transmission facilities or new generation facilities. The Universal System Benefits Charge was extended from July 1, 2003 to December 31, 2005, and public utilities proposed offering a product composed of electricity from renewable resources.
01/01: The PSC approved an interim $14.5 million increase in delivery rates for Montana Power customers. The increase represented a 4.5-percent increase for customers who bought their power from Montana Power and a 7.5-percent increase for customers who bought power from competitive suppliers.
11/00: The Montana PSC decided to delay complete retail access for all consumers from July 2002 to July 2004 because the state did not have a competitive power supply market in place. Most rural electric cooperatives had opted not to restructure or offer retail choice. Also, Montana Power customers had not been switching to retail choice in large numbers. All NorthWestern Energy customers would be returned to Montana Power service because the Public Service Commission had imposed a rate hike moratorium on Montana Power customers through July 1, 2002.
01/00: Pennsylvania Power and Light (PP&L) completed its purchase of Montana Power’s power plants: 11 hydroelectric plants and interests in 4 coal-fired plants. Purchase price was $757 million. The sale represented Montana Power’s exit from the regulated generation business.
07/99: Senate Bill 406, the Electricity Buying Cooperative Act, took effect on May 5, 1999. It allowed residential and small business customers to combine their buying power to form a cooperative. As a result, a cooperative was formed that would buy up to 330 MW from the market to serve up to 250,000 customers statewide. The law exempted electricity suppliers from laws that prohibit cooperatives from expanding into cities of more than 3,500 persons.
11/98: The PSC reached an agreement with Pacificorp to proceed with the sale of its service territory in the State to Flathead Electric Cooperative. Pacific Power (Pacificorp's Montana division) had about 34,500 customers at the time.
11/98: Montana Power was looking to sell 13 power plants, about 2,600 MW of capacity, for $1.6 billion to PP&L Resources. The plants included 11 hydroelectric plants, 1 wholly owned coal plant, and Montana Power’s controlling interest in Colstrip, a large 4-unit coal plant.
06/98: PSC approved a plan to phase-in competition. Beginning July 1, 1998, Montana Power's largest customers (loads over 1 MW) would be able to choose their energy supplier. Beginning November 1998, 5 percent of residential and small consumers would select their power supplier under a pilot program.
03/98: Montana Power accelerated its schedule for residential and commercial customers’ pilot program. All customers would have retail access by April 2000, 2 years earlier than the law required at the time.
01/98: Montana Power’s intention to sell its plants set off concerns by deregulation critics that foretell higher rates; a move for a special legislative session to slow deregulation failed.
12/97: Montana Power announced that it would offer for sale all of its Montana electric generating facilities—13 dams and four coal-fired plants, as well as its leased interest in another coal-fired plant and its contracts for power purchased from independent producers.
04/97: Senate Bill 390, the Electric Utility Industry Restructuring and Customer Choice Act, was enacted allowing large industrial consumers retail access by July 1998 and all consumers by July 2002. Senate Bill 390 also allowed for recovery of stranded costs through nonbypassable customer transition charges. It also allowed for securitization for financing certain transition costs and included a 2-year rate freeze beginning July 1998.