Policy & Advocacy

The Montana House and Senate are officially in recess while they take a few days off for the "transmittal break". This means we are half-way through the legislative session, which will pick back up in earnest the week of March 11th . In the first half of the session we saw a number of bills addressing large scale renewable development, including qualifying facilities ("QFs"), and utility supply planning processes. These issues have come up in previous sessions and were discussed during the last interim session as well. In addition, legislators are discussing new trends in the energy space, like storage and electric vehicles. It is exciting to see our elected officials taking interest in these policies, but remains to be seen what traction some of the positive renewable energy bills…

The 66th Montana Legislature was called into session last week and is currently scheduled to run until May 1st. MREA will be there to continually promote and support good renewable energy legislation while defending against attacks on key policies like net metering, renewable energy tax incentives, and more. MREA’s work is always strengthened by our member base, so please engage with our citizen advocacy efforts throughout the session and gain access to our action alerts by becoming a MREA member. As a member, you can also get regular updates on the legislative session and other solar industry news by signing up for our e-newsletter. There is a lot of uncertainty around the 2019 legislative landscape. Many bills still have generic names, do not have draft text available to read, and/or…

The following is a guest blog post by Caitlin Piserchia, Conservation Fellow with Forward Montana.  The Montana Public Service Commission, a quasi-judicial regulatory body seemingly tucked away in a drafty building in Helena, has an almost unbearably boring name but a incredibly large influence over Montana’s energy future. In early October, MREA and Forward Montana partnered on a statewide tour to bring the Public Service Commission and their responsibilities into the public eye. After two weeks on the road as part of the Unknown Energy Battleground Tour, I came away with three major lessons: the Public Service Commission makes incredibly consequential decisions on a regular basis, they are an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to renewable energy development in Montana, and many Montanans don’t know how to influence their…

In Part 1 of this series, we gave an overview of the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC), including a brief history and a description of key elements of its role and structure. In Part 2, we focused on the PSC’s role in energy-related issues, and specifically on three important electricity related responsibilities: creating customer classes and setting rates; overseeing long-term planning processes; and setting contract terms for Qualifying Facilities. This third and final installment of this series will focus on how to engage with the PSC. We also discuss PSC rulemaking and contested case processes, using the cost-benefit study on distributed generation as an example. Involvement at the Public Service Commission There are a number of ways of engaging with the PSC, and the method and number of opportunities to…

In April, the cost-benefit analysis of distributed generation (i.e. rooftop solar) initiated by House Bill 219 was submitted by NorthWestern Energy to the Public Service Commission. The report is now public and is required to be included in the next electric rate case, which is expected to begin in September. Staff at MREA have reviewed the study. First, no work papers, data spreadsheets, or any other supporting materials were included with the report. This makes it incredibly difficult to verify the report’s claims. This lack of transparency is concerning, especially considering the ultimate goal of this report was to bring clarity to questions on rooftop solar, not create further confusion or suspicion. Without the ability to verify the claims made in the study, they cannot be taken as fact. Second,…

In Part 1 of this series, we gave an overview of the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC), including a brief history and a description of key elements of its role and structure. In Part 2, we focus on the PSC’s role in energy related issues, and specifically on three important electricity related responsibilities: creating customer classes and setting rates; overseeing long-term planning processes; and setting contract terms for Qualifying Facilities. Creating Customer Classes and Setting Rates The PSC is charged with creating customer classes for investor owned utilities, and setting the electricity rates (i.e. prices) for those classes. Since utility customers use electricity and the grid differently, they may be grouped into different classes so they can be charged differently. Per Montana law, “Classifications may take into account the quantity…

As of March 1, 2018, NorthWestern Energy has one month to submit its distributed generation (i.e. rooftop solar) cost-benefit analysis to Montana’s Public Service Commission (PSC). The analysis is the latest in an ongoing debate over net metering policy that most recently resulted in House Bill 219. HB 219 passed in the 2017 Legislature and mandated NorthWestern Energy to study the costs and benefits of distributed generation customers. Throughout this process, a number of questions have come up: why is the utility overseeing the study and not the PSC? What happens once the study is finished? How will this affect Montanan’s ability to go solar? Many of these questions circle back to the importance of understanding the Public Service Commission and its role. Many Montanans do not realize the scope…