ome electric bills for Montana-Dakota Utilities customers are likely to rise, possibly as much as $204 annually, as the company attempts to boost its rate of return.
Pending approval from the Montana Public Service Commission, the utility would recover $10.5 million a year from its 25,600 metered customers in Montana, an increase of 15%. In the interim, MDU is asking to recover $1.7 million while the utility commissioners review the larger request. A new gas-fired power plant outside of Bismarck, North Dakota, as well as a $2 million increase in property taxes are big ticket items driving the requested rate increase, according to Nicole Kvisto, MDU’s chief executive.
“The need for an increase in electric rates is driven primarily by the investments made since the last rate case,” Kvisto told regulators in testimony filed last week, “including the Hesket IV gas turbine, increases in O&M expenses and increases in property taxes.”
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