(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Will the Public Service Commission protect eastern Montana, or let executives make more millions? – Daily Montanan [1] ['More From Author', 'July', 'Mary Catherine Dunphy'] Date: 2023-07-01 It’s not just NorthWestern Energy that is sticking it to Montana utility consumers. Montana-Dakota Utilities is doing roughly the same thing to eastern Montana communities which have to rely on this investor-owned monopoly utility for heating and cooling. In December 2022, MDU decided its $1.2 billion in profits during the last four years wasn’t enough, so the MDU corporate executives decided to go for even more profits, and proposed a rate increase of 19.2% for residential consumers, 15.1% for small businesses and 12.9% for large businesses. The challenge for people living in eastern Montana is this would be MDU’s second rate hike in less than three years for a total of 37.5%. I don’t know anyone in eastern Montana who has had a 37.5% pay raise in the last 3 years – not even the MDU employees who work here. A group of people in Glendive – the Dawson Resource Council – decided to fight back and urged people write to the Montana Public Service Commission explaining that they just can’t afford another rate increase. The mayors and city councils of Miles City and Glendive sent letters to the PSC enumerating the various ways MDU’s proposed rate increase would hurt local businesses, farms and families. We’ve had a little success. Last week, we learned that MDU negotiated with the Montana Consumer Counsel a take-it-or-leave-it, all-or-nothing across the board rate increase of 9.1% Even 9.1 % is still too much for these eastern Montana communities. The average per-capita income in Miles City is $31,146 and the median income is $54,265. Most other towns in eastern Montana are in approximately the same situation. Unlike MDU executives and shareholders, many people in eastern Montana are not rolling in the dough! MDU’s chief executive officer makes $5 million a year – I bet he can afford to pay his utility bills with no problem. MDU, as it seeks ever greater profits, is going to hurt so many families and businesses who are struggling to stay above water after being hit with higher food prices, insurance costs, property taxes, health care costs, gas prices, etc. This last winter businesses, families, low-income folks and seniors on fixed incomes struggled to pay the 3% interim rate increase the PSC approved in January, until the final decision is made whether the rate increase will be 19.1% or 9.1%. Most of us think 3% is enough – more than enough. We don’t need any more money going straight to shareholder profits, and CEO multi-million-dollar salaries. We need this money to stay in our communities so we can continue to exist. All five of the Republican PSC Commissioners, under the leadership of chairman James Brown — needs to do their job, and protect eastern Montana consumers from MDU predatory price gouging. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/07/01/will-the-public-service-commission-protect-eastern-montana-or-let-executives-make-more-millions/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/