PSC chairman Bob Rowe holds Missoula meeting over future of power

NorthWestern Energy’s new plan for acquiring electricity and getting it to customers’ houses may be a tough document to decode. But average Montanans have much more to say about it than they might think, the state’s chief energy regulator and NorthWestern officials said Tuesday night in Missoula.

By GINNY MERRIAM of the Missoulian

For instance: NorthWestern’s planners believe that their look into the future protects their customers from prices that spike up and drop down by locking in on long-term contracts through 2007. Do customers want that? Or would they rather take chances on the best price of the day?

Another for instance: Wind power looks attractive to the planners if Congress enacts wind tax credits. That means there must be another source of power for times when the wind is not blowing. What should it be?

Is coal an alternative? How clean can it be? What about projects like the proposed Basin Creek project in Butte, a 50-megawatt plant that would generate electricity using natural gas? It would produce power on demand to fill in for such means as wind and to cover during times of high demand. But gas is expensive. Do we want the risk?

"I know it’s not the most accessible subject, but we’d like to get the public’s comment," Public Service Commission chairman Bob Rowe told a small audience gathered at the Doubletree Hotel.

The overall demand for electricity from NorthWestern’s 300,000 customers in Montana grows by 1 percent to 2 percent each year. But there’s a wild spread hour-to-hour and day-to-day, from 393 megawatts at a time to 1,078 megawatts. For instance, demand is high at suppertime and low at 2 a.m. And Montana’s weather extremes also make for wide swings.

"What that means is the load cannot be served by just one set of resources," Rowe said. "It takes a number of resources to meet that ever-changing demand."

NorthWestern planners suggest drawing the basic load of electricity from coal, water power and wind power plants and depending on customers to conserve energy. That power would come from long-term contracts to get energy from PPL Montana, Colstrip 4, Thompson River Co-Gen, Tiber Dam, Windpark Solutions and Navitas Whitehall Wind Projects.

Those sources would be supplemented with the new on-demand plant in Butte. The Basin Creek plan is waiting for approval from the PSC.

NorthWestern planners believe that long-term contracts will be less risky for customers than the current electric supply.

"The plan looks toward price stability for our electricity customers in the future," said Tim Sweeney, a regulatory attorney with NorthWestern.

It may not be possible for the average person to spend enough time on the plan to make informed decisions because utilities have become so complex, said Jim Morton, director of the Human Resource Council in Missoula. And that’s a frustration for the low-income constituency served by the HRC, who watch their bills go up.

"The guy that’s paying the bill is sitting there wondering what the hell’s going on," he said.

Some, including consumer advocate Susan Goode, said the ratepayers are much better off now than they have been in a long time. The PSC and the other agencies that monitor NorthWestern are working together better than they have in the past. Many heated arguments about the company’s bankruptcy are behind them.

"The authority we do have is to restore some stability, restore some transparency," Rowe said. "This is the road map for how."

Reporter Ginny Merriam can be reached at 523-5251 or at [email protected]

On the Web

To read and comment on NorthWestern Energy’s electricity supply plan, visit http://www.montanaenergyforum.com. The Web site shows the complete plan, a glossary, a guide to understanding it and a method of providing public comments to NorthWestern electronically. To comment in writing to the Public Service Commission, write to the PSC at 1701 Prospect Ave., P.O. Box 202601, Helena, Mont. 59620-2601.