Montana

Montana PSC orders NorthWestern to take closer look at low-income programs – Daily Montanan

Published

2 years ago

January 23, 2024

Montana PSC orders NorthWestern to take closer look at low-income programs – Daily Montanan

NorthWestern Energy will need to provide more information to regulators about how well its energy assistance programs are helping low-income customers in the wake of double-digit utility rate increases.

The monopoly utility also will need to identify barriers low-income customers face to using those programs and determine the best way to reach those customers.

“Evidence in the record regarding affordability is limited,” said the Montana Public Service Commission.

Tuesday, the Public Service Commission unanimously voted to approve an order that largely keeps in place a settlement agreement it greenlighted this fall with Northwestern Energy.

That agreement resulted in a rate increase of 24% for residential electricity customers and 25% for small businesses compared to rates in August 2022 — and commissioners didn’t specifically discuss rate changes.

But the Public Service Commission received three motions to reconsider its earlier decision, and after hearing legal and rate analyses from staff at a meeting Tuesday, it rejected two of the three motions.

However, the PSC bought into arguments made by one group of parties, the Human Resource Council District XI, Natural Resources Defense Council, and NW Energy Coalition.

The Human Resource Council and its partners argued the “effects of any utility rate increase are disproportionately felt by low-income customers,” but it said the PSC didn’t discuss those customers specifically.

The group also said NorthWestern offers no low-income programs other than what it’s required to do by law; the money that’s available isn’t enough; customers have faced roadblocks with its weatherization program ever since NorthWestern contracted with the Department of Public Health and Human Services; and participation rates in low-income programs “have declined by more than 25% over the last decade.”

At a PSC hearing in April, data from NorthWestern showed the decrease in participation.

Under questioning by a lawyer representing the Human Resource Council and its partners at the time, a vice president for the utility admitted the company wasn’t proposing any changes in its outreach to low-income customers.

Tuesday, however, the Public Service Commission ordered NorthWestern Energy to do more to analyze its service to low-income ratepayers.

“The commission is sensitive to the impacts that utility rate increases have on all customers, including low-income customers,” said the draft order. “The commission acknowledges that (its earlier order) does not separately and explicitly address the impact of the settlement on low-income customers and, on reconsideration, finds that the request … for an analysis of the impact is reasonable.”

The PSC said it might seem intuitive that low-income customers are more affected by rate increases, but the lack of evidence means commissioners can’t reach any conclusions.

“Nevertheless, on reconsideration, the Commission agrees with HRC/NRDC/NWEC that an evaluation of the efficacy of available low-income energy assistance programs through a stakeholder process is warranted,” the order said.

“At a minimum, the stakeholder process should attempt to address apparent information gaps concerning trends in energy affordability for low-income customers in relation to the residential class as a whole, barriers to participation in existing assistance programs, coordination across assistance programs, and the most effective outreach and delivery mechanisms for low-income assistance.”

The PSC, made up of five commissioners who are all currently Republican, also clarified it expects NorthWestern to maintain a permanent stakeholder group to evaluate “demand-side management,” or strategies to control energy use, and expand its engagement.

But in its order, the PSC rejected motions to reconsider from 350 Montana and Broad Reach Power.

In its motion, 350 Montana had argued the PSC invented a “magical” new way of analyzing costs that wasn’t legal, failed to consider emissions, sent $3.4 million to shareholders that belonged to customers, and discriminated against residential customers and small businesses.

However, an analysis from PSC staff said commissioners based their order on judicial and agency precedent, and it also said NorthWestern will need to include data about carbon emissions in future reviews.

As for the money 350 Montana alleges belongs to customers — the difference between the authorized cost of debt and NorthWestern’s actual cost of debt — the PSC said it would have to undo a decision made by an earlier commission in a separate case to go that route.

The staff analysis also indicated larger customers subsidize the cost of electricity for residential and small businesses — as part of the accounting principles of “gradualism” and moderation to decrease rate shock. At least a couple of commissioners wanted to stress that subsidy.

“Certainly the order has softened the blow … at the expense of other classes in order to lessen rate shock on residential and small business customer classes,” Commissioner Jennifer Fielder said.

Broad Reach had said it was denied due process because the PSC didn’t reschedule a hearing on the settlement after it was filed. The PSC disagreed and said the burden of canceling the hearing and requiring more testimony and discovery would have outweighed the benefit of moving ahead.

Source link

Click to comment

Montana

Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate

Published

3 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate

Everyone makes mistakes, even experienced professionals; a good reminder for the rest of us to learn from those mistakes. The motion in State v. Stroup starts off well in its initial pages (no case law hallucinations), but is then followed by several pages of two other motions, which I don’t think the lawyer was planning to file, and which appear to have been AI-generated: It begins with the “Below is concise motion language you can drop into …” language quoted above.

Griffen Smith (Missoulian) reported on the story, and included the prosecutor’s motion to strike that filing, on the grounds that it violates a local rule (3(G)) requiring disclosure of the use of generative AI:

The document does not include a generative artificial intelligence disclosure as required. However, page 7 begins as follows: “Below is concise motion language you can drop into a ‘Motion to Admit Mental-Disease Evidence and for Related Instructions’ keyed to 45-6-204, 45-6-201, and 4614-102. Adjust headings/captions to your local practice.” Page 10 states “Below is a full motion you can paste into your pleading, then adjust names, dates, and styles to fit local practice.” These pages also include several apparent hyperlinks to “ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws,” “ppl-ai-fileupload.s3.amazonaws+1,” and others. The document includes what appears to be an attempt at a second case caption on page 12. It is not plausible on its face that any source other than generative AI would have created such language for a filed version of a brief….

There’s more in that filing, but here’s one passage:

While generative AI can be a useful tool for some purposes and may have greater application in the future, when used improperly, and without meaningful review, it can ultimately damage both the perception and the reality of the profession. One assumes that Mr. Stroup has had, or will at some point have, an opportunity to review the filing made on his behalf. What impression could a review of pgs. 12-19 leave upon a defendant who struggles with paranoia and delusional thinking? While AI could theoretically one day become a replacement for portions of staff of experienced attorneys, it is readily apparent that this day has not yet arrived.

The Missoulan article includes this response:

In a Wednesday interview, Office of Public Defender Division Administrator Brian Smith told the Missoulian the AI-generated language was inadvertently included in an unrelated filing. And he criticized the county attorney’s office for filing a “four-page diatribe about the dangers of AI” instead of working with the defense to correct her mistake.
“That’s not helping the client or the case,” Smith said, “and all you are doing is trying to throw a professional colleague under the bus.”

As I mentioned, the lawyer involved seems quite experienced, and ran for the Montana Public Service Commission in 2020 (getting nearly 48% of the vote) and for the House of Representatives in Montana’s first district in 2022 (getting over 46% of the vote) and in 2024 (getting over 44%). “Его пример другим наука,” Pushkin wrote in Eugene Onegin—”May his example profit others,” in the Falen translation.

Thanks to Matthew Monforton for the pointer.

Source link

Montana

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

Published

15 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

State

Zip Code

Country

Source link

Montana

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.

“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.

It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.

(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”

But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.

“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.

Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.

“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.

The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.

“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.

While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.

Source link