NorthWestern Energy has requested an $11 million natural gas rate increase. The rate hike requires the approval of the Montana Public Service Commission.
The filing is the company’s first natural gas rate case since 2012, according to PSC spokesman Eric Sell.
"NorthWestern’s calculated that the impact to customers' bill will be about $4.81. That’s about a 6.7 percent increase and that’s if the Commission were to approve the 10.9 million dollar rate increase."
Northwestern’s application also seeks to permanently place two north-central Montana natural gas production properties into its rate base.
"So it’s essentially these two assets they have for [natural gas] production that weren’t currently included into the rate base and they acquired them since their last rate case," says Sell.
The PSC will also evaluate Northwestern’s request to recover a portion of costs related to the company’s new $26 million headquarters in Butte.
The PSC has 9 months to issue a final decision on the rate request.