Four things to know about NorthWestern Energy’s newest rate hike request
If you struggle to understand the charges and formulas incorporated into power companies’ electricity and natural gas rates, you’re not alone.
Utility ratemaking is a notoriously technical undertaking that even professionals working in related fields can find difficult to decipher. It’s also an important component of the “pocketbook economics” that influence Montanans’ finances, whether they’re paying their monthly power bills or budgeting for goods and services affected by swelling energy costs.
For example, when NorthWestern Energy, the state’s largest monopoly utility, last raised its rates, it estimated its residential customers’ electricity bills would climb 28% — a significant amount in a state where cold snaps and heat waves spur wallet-straining spikes in energy usage.
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