North Dakota
North Dakota’s delicate electricity price balance faces challenges
BISMARCK — As an energy exporter blessed with abundant supply, North Dakota consistently ranks among the cheapest states in the country when it comes to residential, commercial and industrial electricity rates.
Exploding costs of transmission, the build out and replacement of transmission infrastructure and the increase in energy load have helped push residential electricity prices modestly higher in recent years, however.
Average residential per kilowatt-hour of power increased by nearly 30% in the state between 2020 and 2024.
A recent study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory showed North Dakota actually had the largest decrease in average retail industrial and commercial electricity prices in the country over that span, with flat or slightly lower rates for residential users, when adjusted for inflation.
Most of the real cost rise is due to the increased expense of transmission as well as materials, build outs, generation and transportation needed to keep up with energy demand and to replace aging systems.
Take transformers for example: they cost 70-100% more now than five years ago, according to International Energy Agency data. Aluminum and copper wiring is up to 50% more costly. Labor costs have also increased by around 20-40%.
“Four or five years ago, it was $400,000 a mile to build a transmission line. Now it’s $2 million a mile,” said Josh Kramer, executive vice president and general manager at North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives. “Generation used to cost about $800 a kilowatt. Now it’s $2,700 a kilowatt.”
The cost of nearly every input into the energy transmission and maintenance system rose, on average, as much as 50%, he said.
State Sen. Dale Patten, R-Watford City, said replacement and upgrade costs of infrastructure are also one key component, particularly to improve resilience against severe weather events in rural areas.
“A lot of the existing infrastructure is old, 50-, 60-, 70-years-old in some cases, and the cost of replacing it is not cheap,” said Patten, who chairs the Legislature’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Contributed / North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives
Population growth and shifts in that growth toward the main cities in the state are also a driver, he said.
“You have to build the infrastructure to support that population growth and that corresponding economic growth,” Patten said.
Another major driver is transmission costs.
“As we look at the regulated utilities when they come in for rate cases, it seems like one of the areas where their costs are exploding the most is transmission,” said Public Service Commission commissioner Randy Christmann. “Transmission costs are exploding.”
Christmann said some of the blame goes to build out of remote renewables projects in the wider region, as well as the closure of coal fired power plants around the county leading to increased load on North Dakota power providers as regional transmission organizations spread costs around.
In 2024, North Dakota exported around 32% of generated electricity and exported 85% of natural gas extracted, according to the Department of Commerce.
Adding large loads onto the grid across the country at the same time as all of these other cost increases has spiked energy prices in most other locations.
So far, North Dakota has dodged that for the most part, even as its lower electricity rates are attractive to industrial operations looking to add large loads in the system.
Large loads can include everything from operations like data centers, to oil refineries, to agricultural processing facilities and even the capital complex in Bismarck. Currently, there are 23 larger data centers in North Dakota.
When it comes to data centers, North Dakota has managed to add those large loads without jacking up electricity prices for consumers.
There are concerns about whether that can continue to be the case.
“I have seen them have very adverse impacts and very positive impacts,” said Christmann. “It depends on the details of the specific data center.”
Managing that going forward will be a challenge for the commission and legislators.
State Rep. Anna Novak, R-Hazen, is currently leading the Legislature’s interim Energy Development and Transmission Committee to study large loads such as data centers and try to find a way to balance attracting those projects without overburdening other electricity consumers.
“We need to strike a balance of making sure that we’re open for business, but that we have a strong vetting process,” Novak said. “I think that the vetting process is getting better.”
Besides cheaper electricity prices and available power, the policy and regulatory climate in the state is also attractive for tech companies looking to site a data center.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Data centers are also attracted to North Dakota’s readily available water supply and cooler temperatures, which cut operating costs.
Novak said cost savings for data centers choosing to locate here can amount to the billions.
“We are certainly a desirable place to put a data center,” Novak said.
The most well-known data center in the state, Applied Digital’s facilities near Ellendale, has become a case study for how to add a large load while keeping the local impact minimal and also providing benefits across the state.
By tapping into stranded power that was not being adequately used and making the capital investments on that instead of passing it to the utilities, the project has been able to actually decrease electricity rates for Montana-Dakota Utilities consumers across the state.
“We had involvement in that, in making sure that this big additional load was not only going to just not be detrimental to customers, but actually be very beneficial.” Christmann. “Every single MDU customer in North Dakota is benefiting because of that facility on their electric rate.”
Contributed / North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives
Darcy Neigum, vice president of electric supply for Montana-Dakota Utilities, said that customers saved around $70 last year because of the facility, and once it is fully built out, savings could come out to around $250 per year per customer.
“We’re very aware of the rates we’re charging to our customers and the rate impacts,” Neigum said. “The approach that we took (with the Ellendale facility) was to try to find some way to create value instead of just putting costs on customers.”
Insulating consumers from costs
Investor-owned utilities like MDU as well as electric cooperatives like Basin Electric Power and Minnkota are all trying to figure out how to manage large loads going forward.
Basin Electric adopted a large load program in June as a way to minimize rate impacts for cooperative members and reduce the risk of stranded assets that come with single projects looking for 50, 100 or more megawatts of power in the future. Minnkota Power Cooperative has also adopted a similar policy.
“So, when we have those inquiries coming in, whether it’s a large tech company or a large industrial load, we’re saying we want to serve you, but to do that you’re going to have to bear the costs associated with it,” Kramer said. “That goes for if they need to add more infrastructure or generation or engineering studies.”
MDU’s Neigum said the company doesn’t have a formal policy yet, but the uptick in interest in adding large loads may necessitate one.
“We do have a process we go through, and we’re kind of formalizing some of that, because there are just so many requests,” Neigum said.
One delicate aspect in all of this is putting into place policies that protect consumers or co-op members from additional costs without scaring quality projects away from the state.
Kramer said that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“It’s probably helped separate the wheat from the chaff a bit,” Kramer said.
The North Dakota News Cooperative is a non-profit news organization providing reliable and independent reporting on issues and events that impact the lives of North Dakotans. The organization increases the public’s access to quality journalism and advances news literacy across the state. For more information about NDNC or to make a charitable contribution, please visit newscoopnd.org.
This story was originally published on NewsCoopND.org.
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This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here.
North Dakota
Challengers declare victory after ND Supreme Court rules against Legislature’s attempt to alter term limits
BISMARCK — A constitutional ballot measure to amend the state’s term limits law as proposed by the Legislature will not appear on November’s ballot, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, siding with petitioners who argued the Legislature exceeded its authority and violated the state constitution in proposing the changes.
“The people’s voice was heard,” Grand Forks County Commissioner Terry Bjerke said in reaction to the news.
Bjerke was a member of the sponsoring committee behind the successful 2022 effort to pass a term limits initiative, which amended the state constitution by capping legislative term limits to eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The amendment, which became article XV of the state constitution, also included a clause barring the Legislature from making constitutional changes to term limits.
During the 2025 session, however, lawmakers narrowly approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 4008, in which the legislature proposed Constitutional Measure 1, a ballot measure to amend the term limits language to allow legislators to decide in which chamber they want to serve their 16 years, and to repeal the clause limiting the legislative assembly’s authority to propose an amendment to alter or repeal term limits.
Bjerke and former Minot legislator Oley Larsen brought the lawsuit challenging the validity of the Legislature’s action in January, and the state Supreme Court
heard oral arguments in the case
this spring.
“Those term limits may only be altered by a measure proposed by the people rather than the Legislative Assembly. And yet a few years later, the Legislative Assembly is doing what they are prohibited from doing,” attorney Zachary Wallen argued on Bjerke and Larsen’s behalf.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
The Legislature’s attorneys argued the clause prohibiting legislative proposals to alter the constitutional term limits language “infringes on our republican form of government” by “limiting the people’s ability to vote on amendments proposed by their elected officials.”
Justice Jon Jensen seemed skeptical of that argument during the April 2 hearing, questioning whether a second vote was appropriate.
“The public did speak on this. The public spoke on it when it passed the original constitutional amendment and they said, ‘Legislature, you don’t even get to propose a change.’ They have already spoken on it,” Jensen said. “You want a second shot, or a second bite at the apple, not a first one, a second.”
In Thursday’s ruling, all five justices sided with Bjerke and Larsen.
“We … conclude the Legislative Assembly’s adoption of S.C.R. 4008 violated N.D. Const. art. XV … and declare S.C.R. 4008 and Constitutional Measure 1 void … We enjoin the Secretary of State from placing Constitutional Measure 1 on the November 2026 general election ballot,” the ruling said.
Bjerke thanked the legal team that worked on behalf of their lawsuit, and said he was grateful the court reached the conclusion it did.
“I’m thrilled that what the people voted on and approved has been validated,” Bjerke said.
He added that the Legislature had “multiple opportunities” to address term limits prior to 2022’s initiated measure and chose not to, and gave a nod to the country’s coming milestone and the process by which voters expressed their support for term limits.
“We’ve lasted 250 years,” Bjerke said. “I have two words for those elected leaders who think they aren’t: everyone’s replaceable.”
North Dakota
Fargo woman convicted in North Dakota fraud case now faces charges in Minnesota: A deeper dive
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A North Dakota woman who was sentenced to 180 days in jail in Cass County for defrauding healthcare providers and Medicaid programs is now facing additional fraud charges in Minnesota.
Christine Marie Pryor, 55, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to theft by deception involving more than $50,000. She was sentenced to first serve 180 days with a 3-year sentence suspended. She received credit for 44 days already served.
Pryor was ordered to pay $82,584.78 in restitution to Southeast Human Services in Fargo, where she worked between 2018 and 2019.
How the scheme unfolded
According to court documents, Pryor worked at multiple healthcare facilities in North Dakota and Minnesota between 2018 and 2023, using the identities and credentials of three licensed professionals without their knowledge. She submitted fraudulent Capella University diplomas and transcripts to gain employment.
Investigators say Pryor admitted she searched state licensing websites for therapists who shared her first name, then used those therapists’ last names and license numbers when applying for jobs.
At Southeast Human Services, where she worked as a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Pryor earned $55,584.82 while providing therapy services to approximately 150 patients. She also opened her own counseling center, NIAM Brain Injury Center, in Fargo between 2020 and 2021, and worked at The Lotus Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, from 2021 to 2023.
Court documents say the three licensed professionals whose identities were used told investigators they had no knowledge of Pryor’s actions and did not give her permission to use their information.
Two additional charges against Pryor in North Dakota, unauthorized use of personal identifying information, were dismissed on motion of the state.
Additional charges in Minnesota
Pryor is also facing charges in Minnesota. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Tuesday charges against Pryor in Clay County District Court for six theft offenses and six identity theft offenses related to defrauding Minnesota’s Medicaid program of more than $150,000.
According to the Minnesota complaint, Pryor claimed to provide psychotherapy and alcohol and drug counseling services to Medicaid recipients despite having no license or credentials to do so. Prosecutors allege she used the credentials and identities of three licensed professionals while claiming to provide Medicaid-funded services to 169 clients.
The Minnesota charges were filed as part of National Health Care Fraud Takedown Day, a joint effort involving the Department of Justice and more than 40 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
Copyright 2026 KVLY. All rights reserved.
North Dakota
NCAA Set to Change Unpopular Football Rule Just in Time for North Dakota State’s FBS Jump
North Dakota State playing in the FCS playoffs and College Football Playoff in back-to-back years? It’s likelier than you think.
That’s because on Wednesday, according to a report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports, the NCAA Division I cabinet voted to repeal a rule that effectively barred teams transitioning from FCS to FBS from playing in postseason games in their first FBS seasons. The Bison are making that move along with Sacramento State in 2026.
The reported change has been a long time coming; the rule has hampered teams from immediate bowl eligibility for decades. Its good intentions of dissuading teams from rashly making the FCS-to-FBS leap have been rendered obsolete in recent years by the fact that programs generally arrive in FBS more prepared than ever before.
Consider the number of new FBS teams that have had to work within the provision in the past decade alone
That list includes: Liberty (home for the holidays at 6–6 in 2018), James Madison (8–3 in 2022 under coach Curt Cignetti, and barely able to play in a bowl at 11–1 in ’23 due to a lack of bowl-eligible teams), Jacksonville State (8–4 in ’23 before backing in like the Dukes), Missouri State (7–5 in 2025, also backed in) and Delaware (6–6 in ’25, ditto).
James Madison in particular became a cause célèbre in ’23 because it started the season 10-0, climbing as high as No. 18 in the AP Poll in mid-November. Then-Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares bandied about suing the NCAA before the Dukes lost 26–23 to Appalachian State, an event that caused the program to back off and accept a bid to play Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl. James Madison lost that game 31–21, by which time Cignetti had left for Indiana.
There was a time when the FCS-to-FBS jump was an imposing one, and the NCAA did not want to incentivize making it lightly—not even a proud Florida A&M program could make a mid-2000s attempt at a jump stick. However, the Flames, Dukes and other teams have shown it’s not so great a climb for programs with the right resources and management.
Now the Bison and the Hornets stand to benefit.
How far can North Dakota State and Sacramento State go in the near term?
The Bison opened 12–0 last year before a shock loss to Illinois State in the FCS playoffs’ second round, so that question may answer itself. North Dakota State does not play a single Power 4 team—a potential strength-of-schedule albatross if it has designs on really surging. A potential roadblock: the fact that the Bison have to visit the Mountain West’s two favorites, UNLV (Oct. 10) and New Mexico (Oct. 24).
It’s a different story for the Hornets, a 7–5 squad a year ago whose move to the FBS is widely seen as a gamble on their growth potential. Sacramento State also does not play a major-conference team, but has a breakneck travel schedule ahead of it—the Hornets will visit Ypsilanti, Mich.; Bowling Green, Ohio; Muncie, Ind.; Mount Pleasant, Mich. and Honolulu. Combine that with a first-year coach—Oakland native and ex-MC Hammer choreographer Alonzo Carter—and it could be a long FBS debut in California’s capital.
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