Viewpoint: Montana residents can’t afford less energy oversight

Darrell Ehrlick

We just finished Christmas, but I still have enough pennies left in my bank account that I can scrounge together money to buy the NorthWestern Energy CEO a box of tissues for the tears he shed during his plea to Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte.

Last week, the two commiserated during a governor’s energy roundtable about how darn unfair the government, especially the Democratically led federal government, had been to the energy sector and big corporations like NorthWestern. There’s nothing quite as depressing during the holidays than two millionaires lamenting their economic desperation. And, that’s before the Montana Supreme Court decided that the plainspoken Montana Constitution meant what it said by a “clean and healthful environment.”

According to Micah Drew’s excellent story in the Daily Montanan, NorthWestern Energy CEO Brian Bird said:

“We have not been encouraged to build generation. Matter of fact, the way that it works today is, ‘Let’s make sure we’re checking everything Northwestern does.’ And it seems like that made sense in a period of time when you were dealing with 1% growth in your energy needs.”

Let’s just pause a moment on Bird’s words.

They have the familiar ring of deregulation, a disastrous period of not-too-distant history for Montanans in which lawmakers allowed the state’s largest utility company to deregulate and divest its assets in the name of the free-market, only to have energy prices soar. That period was a prelude to the same ratepayers having to re-purchase many of the same assets, including hydropower, at steep prices.

Essentially, we bought, built and maintained power generation, sold it off in the name of economic freedom, then were charged higher rates to buy the same things that we had purchased previously in exchange for (checks notes) … a defunct long-distance telephone service.

By suggesting less oversight, Bird is hinting that the Legislature should tilt laws to lessen regulations on a utility company that has recently raised rates by 28%, while becoming an outlier in the energy sector by embracing coal and taking a hostile posture toward renewables.

Meanwhile, until very recently, the Montana Public Service Commission had seemed all too willing to rubber-stamp any rate case that NorthWestern brought. Isn’t it curious that just as public pressure mounts for the PSC to slow or more carefully examine the reasons why NorthWestern seems to be so out of step with the rest of the nation that Bird would call for less oversight?

Let’s not forget, even as NorthWestern has steadfastly said that’s it’s either not feasible or not economic to invest more in things like wind farms and solar, instead opting for coal, other energy companies from the region have dropped billions in Montana to generate electricity here, and send it to places like Seattle.

Our leaders continue their talk of needing “all of the above” for energy, but that always seems to be a nice way of hiding their preference for fossil fuels, while continuing to deny, or at least ignore, the reality and threat of climate change. I have seen little evidence in Montana that “all of the above” has meant an openness to renewables or weaning us off of fossil fuel-based energy because of the deleterious effects it has on the climate, and by extension, the existential danger it poses to the natural beauty and resources we cherish so much in the Treasure State.

The “all of the above” is nice a way to say nothing. If everything is OK, then nothing is prioritized, despite a clear evidence-based case for change.

At that same meeting, Gianforte told energy leaders, who seemed curiously short of renewable advocates, that, “I’m with the government, but I’m here to stay out of your way.”

Clever, but that completely disregards how many times the Gianforte administration has supported being with the government and getting very much in the way of individual liberties, when it comes to very basic freedoms like the right to make decisions about healthcare, reproductive decisions, and whether a person can even change the most basic of information on their driver’s license.

Besides staying out the way by not being present in Helena, the governor seems only too happy to stay out of the way of big corporations that want less oversight, while being on a one-man mission to get into your bedroom, your doctor’s office and even dictate what the DMV does.

That follows a predictable pattern during his administration that runs parallel to the property tax debacle he helped create by allowing the property taxes of Montana homes to soar while ensuring the biggest corporate entities got tax breaks.

We don’t have to guess what the status quo of Montana’s leaders will mean for utility customers across the state if NorthWestern and Gianforte get their wishes because they haven’t explained how less oversight will mean lower energy prices — even with the current amount of oversight, energy prices have soared far beyond the rate of inflation.

And NorthWestern and Gianforte expect us to believe that with fewer consumer safeguards, we’ll pay less? As lax as the Public Service Commission’s approach has been to residential rate hikes in the past four years, can you imagine what will happen if private industry would have less oversight in determining what a captive customer base would pay?

I’d like to say that I am not buying any of it. Unfortunately, as a captive NorthWestern customer, I will have to buy it — at any price.

This opinion was first published by the Daily Montanan.