Today in Helena

Government

The PSC Is Having a Week — And It's Not Done Yet

If you only tracked one institution this week, it was the Montana Public Service Commission — and the story kept getting bigger every day. It started with hundreds of NorthWestern Energy customers, including Helena resident Michelle Sexton, reporting their August electric bills had tripled or more with no clear explanation. The PSC opened a formal review. Then, mid-week, Gov. Greg Gianforte appointed former PSC commissioner Kirk Bushman to fill the seat of suspended Commissioner Brad Molnar — a political maneuver that raised eyebrows about who's minding the utility watchdog while it's under fire. And to close out the week, Gianforte's own energy task force dropped a bombshell recommendation: scrap the elected PSC entirely and replace it with a governor-appointed board. For Helena-area residents still staring at a $400 August power bill they can't explain, the timing of that last recommendation is going to sting. The PSC appeared four times across this week's editions, and NorthWestern Energy logged 101 mentions in the week's coverage — the most of any private entity. The practical upshot for residents: the PSC investigation into the bill spikes is ongoing, but whether the body doing that investigating will look the same a year from now is very much an open question.