HELENA — Montana regulators are asking the state’s largest utility to make revisions to their long-range plan for how they’ll provide electricity in the state.
The Montana Public Service Commission voted 3-1 Tuesday that NorthWestern Energy’s updated Integrated Resource Plan had deficiencies the company would need to address to meet state requirements.
“It's just kind of doing our job to help everybody else do their job, so the public interest is protected,” PSC President Jeff Welborn told MTN.
(Watch the video for more on the PSC's decision.)
Utilities in Montana are required to update their IRP every three years.
NorthWestern’s plan lays out analysis for how the company can deliver power over the next 20 years. It places an emphasis on reliable electricity generation resources, and it calls for the coal-fired power plant in Colstrip to remain active as long as possible. It says the company has enough capacity to meet needs today, but could start to see shortfalls during the winter as soon as 2027.
PSC staff and a consulting firm reviewed NorthWestern’s plan. In a memo, staff said the company’s latest version needed more detail in five specific areas, like how they model projected energy costs for specific sets of generation resources and how they can address demand for electricity.
Welborn said getting additional information will help the PSC make better decisions when the utility proposes adding new production resources.
“It helps us to understand what they're looking at, and it also gives them firm footing when they do in the future go to look at those acquisitions – the conversation’s already been started,” he said.
A spokesperson for NorthWestern said in a statement to MTN that the company took the PSC’s recommendations seriously and would be carefully reviewing them. They said the company was “committed to a transparent and constructive planning process.”
“Integrated resource planning can involve an almost unlimited number of scenarios, sensitivities and analytical approaches,” the spokesperson said. “Our focus is therefore not simply on producing more analysis, but on ensuring that additional work meaningfully improves the planning discussion and helps evaluate the costs, reliability risks and tradeoffs associated with serving our customers over the long term.”
The commission heard public testimony on NorthWestern’s IRP at a pair of public meetings last month, with the vast majority of those testifying unsatisfied with the company’s proposal.
Welborn, PSC Vice President Jennifer Fielder and Commissioner Randy Pinocci voted to send the IRP back to NorthWestern, while Commissioner Annie Bukacek voted against that action. Commissioner Brad Molnar, currently suspended from office, did not participate.
