The Public Service Commission’s District 5 seat is up for election. Voters from the Blackfeet Indian Reservation to Helena and parts of Missoula will get to choose who represents them on the board. MTPR’s Clayton Murphy talks with Deputy Editor of the Daily Montanan Keila Szpaller about who’s running and what the race could mean for voters.
Clayton Murphy Thanks for coming in today, Keila.
Keila Szpaller Thanks Clayton.
Clayton Murphy So not everyone is the most familiar with the Public Service Commission, but they play a pretty important role in delivering utilities to people in the state. Can you tell us what exactly the PSC is?
Keila Szpaller Yeah, the Public Service Commission is a regulatory body. It's five commissioners elected by district and right now they're all Republican. They do really important work but sometimes it feels like they fly under the radar a little bit.
They regulate monopolies like NorthWestern Energy. They're supposed to make sure the company profits, but not by an unreasonable amount, by just enough to have an incentive to provide service. They also regulate garbage hauling and do railroad and pipeline inspections.
Clayton Murphy And what is this election for?
Keila Szpaller This is District 5. It's a district that's a cut of northwest Montana, loosely from Flathead, Lake and Glacier Counties down to parts of Missoula and Lewis and Clark Counties.
Clayton Murphy Can you tell us a bit about each candidate?
Keila Szpaller Here, Commissioner Annie Bukacek is running for re-election. She's a Republican running against Democrat Kevin Hamm. Bukacheck is a doctor who works in Kalispell and she's been on the PSC since 2023.
She's pretty well known in the Flathead area. During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, she was on the local health board and pushed back against safety measures and some high profile controversies.
People might remember Kevin Hamm too. He ran for the PSC in 2022 and ran for Congress in 2024. He has a background in business and marketing. He founded a video production company and also organizes the Montana Pride Celebration.
Clayton Murphy What do we know about them so far?
Keila Szpaller Commissioner Bukacek has served for nearly four years, so we have seen her in action. She wants to be sure utilities don't go belly up and she's supported many of NorthWestern Energy's positions with her votes. In 2024, for example, the PSC said NorthWestern wasn't providing the agency enough information about its energy plans, including how those plans might affect customer bills. Commissioner Bukacek was the one dissenting voice.
She also tried to help NorthWestern recover more money from building its new electricity plant in Laurel than the PSC majority approved. She has said she doesn't want regulation to become government overreach.
In a separate case, one related to a small water utility in Helena, Northstar, she was outspoken in her support of residents who have had ongoing problems getting water there.
Clayton Murphy And how about the Democrat?
Keila Szpaller Kevin Hamm's campaign talks about prioritizing families over corporate profits. He has criticized the PSC for approving NorthWestern's requests for rate increases. He says it's been too long since the PSC has cared about the people of Montana and that people's power bills are on the ballot this year.
Clayton Murphy And what's the outlook on the race? Is this going to be a tight race?
Keila Szpaller Republicans have had the PSC locked down for a while. Kevin Hamm's message of lower power bills might resonate with voters this year, but he's a Democrat and he has to convince a lot of people who voted the Republican primary ballot to vote for him.
He earned 22,000 votes in an uncontested primary. 30,000 people voted for a Republican, including almost 11,000 for Bukacek. Commissioner Bukacek has the power of incumbency on her side for sure. And she's a Republican so that traditionally works in her favor here. She's also raised a lot more money in the most recent period, about $13,000 compared to just $1,700 for Hamm.
Clayton Murphy And why should voters be paying attention to this race?
Keila Szpaller Well, so much of what the PSC does has the potential to affect people's power bills. They're dealing with data centers, which a lot of people are interested in and concerned about.
They're also considering a proposal that NorthWestern Energy merge with another massive utility, Black Hills Corporation of South Dakota. Black Hills has customers in eight states. Voters might want to hear what the candidates are thinking when it comes to all of these topics.
Clayton Murphy Thank you so much, Kayla.
Keila Szpaller Thanks Clayton.
MTPR will continue covering state elections and offer special coverage on election night, November 3, from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.
