The Montana Legislature is looking at a bill that would affect the makeup of the Public Service Commission and potentially electricity rates.
Currently, the citizens elect the five commissioners statewide in geographical districts.
Senate Bill 561 would change that to two elected commissioners and three appointed by the governor.
The bill has already passed in the Senate, and a House hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Those in favor say it will bring expertise to a commission that oversees energy, while those opposed say the public will not be represented.
“Should the people maintain the right to vote?” asked PSC Commissioner Brad Molnar, R-Laurel.
Molnar says this is the crux of the debate, regarding the future of Montana’s PSC, a proposal to limit how many of the state’s five public service commissioners are elected, instead of allowing three to be appointed by the governor.
"Three appointed, two elected so that the governor would always have majority vote," Molnar said.
“You need to have commissioners who are independent, who are answerable to... the public, or to themselves, doing the good job you can't,” said Tony O’Donnell, a Republican, who recently completed eight years on the PSC.
The PSC regulates rates for electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater companies, along with other services.
Molnar is among the many concerned about a PSC commission partially appointed by the governor.
“Three appointed to elected so that the governor would always have majority vote,” Molnar said.
“The state has given (utilities) like NorthWestern (Energy) and (Montana Dakota Utilities), they've given them monopoly status,” O’Donnell said. “But in return they... they agreed to be regulated so you have to have regulation that means something.”
Molnar says California and Texas are both examples of why commissioners should not be appointed.
He highlighted the 2018 Paradise fire in California and a failure of Texas’s power grid in 2021 that ultimately led to several deaths.
“Their utility regulators have done nothing to stand in the way of the utilities,” Molnar said.
But others, such as Gov. Greg Gianforte, see the issue much differently.
“I'm not going to weigh in on the particular bill,” Gianforte said in a Helena speech. “But I think there are some benefits that might come from changing up the structure a little bit.”
State Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, R-Billings, the sponsor of the bill, was not available to speak with MTN News for this story.
And a Gianforte spokesperson directed MTN News to his news conference last week, where he was asked about appointed commissioners.
“What's really important, as energy demand increases, is a regulatory climate that gives predictability to both consumers and producers," Gianforte said. “Because these are very large investments these firms are making, sometimes hundreds of millions or billions of dollars.”
But Molnar and others fear appointed commissioners could have big consequences, ultimately affecting ratepayers across Montana.
"This will affect everybody that opens a utility bill, every business that wants to come in the state," Molnar said. "And nobody's paying attention."
