Retired Montanans support Evans for Public Service Commission
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October 15, 2024 7:00 AM
We are retired Montanans living in all seven counties within District 4 of the Public Service Commission. Most of us are on fixed incomes. Some of us are Republicans and some are Democrats. But all of us are voting for Elena Evans, an Independent candidate for the PSC.
We’re voting for Elena because she’s a nonpartisan candidate who is fighting for affordable power and because her opponent, Jennifer Fielder, has cost ratepayers millions.
Fielder was the deciding vote against a $9.1 million rebate for NorthWestern Energy customers and then she voted to increase utility rates for those same customers by 28%. We feel it’s important for Montanans in this PSC district to fully understand these two regrettable decisions.
In 2021, the Public Service Commission had a chance to refund customers $9.1 million in “excess” payments to NorthWestern Energy. In other words, our monopoly utility company charged us for services that it didn’t provide.
Two Republican commissioners - James Brown and Tony O’Donnell - voted to return the money to ratepayers, its rightful owners. But Jennifer Fielder cast the conclusive vote in a 3-2 decision against the refund.
We encourage readers to pause for a moment and take this in. Fielder, whose job it is to protect consumers, voted to let NorthWestern Energy executives and shareholders keep $9.1 million of our money without giving us anything in return.
Then, two years later, Fielder cost us even more money. In October 2023, she voted to raise utility rates by 28% for families and small business owners across Montana. That’s an increase of more than $240 per year for many of us, and on a fixed income $240 means a lot.
Together, we have many other concerns about the current Public Service Commission, but these two decisions are really all the information we need to cast an intelligent vote.
As retired Montanans, we can’t afford more rate hikes. That’s why we’re voting for Elena Evans, a working mom who’s focused on our budgets rather than NorthWestern’s profits.
Kristin Newgard, Troy, Lincoln County
Shelly Eisenrich, Hot Springs, Sanders County
Alison Young, Columbia Falls, Flathead County
Jeff Smith, Polson, Lake County
Henry Cloud, Stevensville, Ravalli County
Liz Gupton, Superior, Mineral County
Karen Booker, Missoula, Missoula County