Montana's bitterly cold winter is hitting Northwestern Energy customers in the pocketbook.
Spokesman Butch Larcombe says its entire service territory is much colder than normal. Of course that means customers are using a lot more natural gas or electricity to stay warm:
"We were churning out record levels [of energy] over the past couple of months," says Larcombe. "In January we delivered 6.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas, which is a lot obviously. In mid-December we hit our high peak demand point ever in Northwestern history at over 1,800 megawatts. That was when we had a real cold snap."
That increased demand for energy will be reflected in Northwestern’s monthly bills. That's on top of the company's anticipated property tax-related rate hikes that will be passed on to customers. As a result, electricity bills will rise by about $3 a month. Natural gas customers will see a hike of about $4 a month.
"That’s a very minor part of why people are seeing higher bills," Larcombe says. "The cold weather is the primary driver of the higher bills."
Northwestern Energy wants to get in touch with customers worried about their ability to pay these higher-than-normal winter bills. Individual payment installment plans can be worked out.
Customers can also get access to various emergency bill assistance programs.
