Montana’s five utility regulators are scheduled to take up the proposed merger of NorthWestern Energy and Black Hills Corp. at their Oct. 27 business meeting in Helena, setting up a final decision on a deal that would fold the state’s largest electric and natural gas utility into a much bigger, multi-state company.
The Montana Public Service Commission has the case listed as Docket 2025.10.078. The commission’s business meetings are held in the Bollinger Conference Room at its offices at 1701 Prospect Ave. in Helena, and this one is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. The meeting is open to the public and is typically streamed online.
A new name if the deal closes
The two companies announced on Oct. 22 that, if the merger is approved, the combined business will be renamed Bright Horizon Energy Corp. and trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker HZN. In the same announcement, the companies said they expect the Montana commission to consider the application before Nov. 12.
Montana is the last major approval on the list. According to the companies, shareholders of both utilities have already voted in favor, and the deal has cleared the Nebraska and South Dakota utility commissions, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the federal antitrust waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.
Black Hills, based in Rapid City, S.D., serves about 1.37 million electric and gas customers in eight states. NorthWestern, which has operated in Montana since buying the old Montana Power Co. distribution business in 2002, serves roughly 850,000 customers in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska and Yellowstone National Park. The Daily Montanan has reported the combined company’s value at about $15.4 billion.
Why Montana’s vote matters
For Montana ratepayers, the core question in front of the commission is control. Today, the Montana utility makes up the large majority of NorthWestern’s regulated business. Opponents have argued that after the merger, Montana would represent a much smaller slice of a bigger company headquartered elsewhere.
In September, the Daily Montanan reported testimony that the Montana operation is roughly 90% of NorthWestern’s regulated business today and would fall to around 30% of the combined company. Monica Tranel, the Missoula attorney representing the Montana Farmers Union and the climate group 350 Montana in the case, told the outlet that Montana regulators would lose leverage over the corporate parent. “We no longer have any authority or control over the parent company,” she said, describing what she sees as the effect of the deal.
The companies have argued that a larger utility will have a stronger balance sheet, better access to capital and more ability to spread costs as it builds generation and transmission. Those arguments, and the conditions the commission may attach to an approval, are expected to be central to the Oct. 27 discussion.
A commission with a substitute member
The vote will also be cast by a commission whose makeup has been in dispute. Commissioner Brad Molnar was suspended for a year in July, and Kirk Bushman has been sitting in his place on the merger case. The commission voted unanimously that Bushman may participate, but the Daily Montanan reported that the question of his authority to vote has been raised in Lewis and Clark County District Court. All five seats are held by Republicans.
The deal’s original decision deadline was Oct. 12, with the option to extend it to Nov. 10, according to the Daily Montanan’s reporting on the procedural schedule. The companies’ own statement now points to a decision before Nov. 12.
Other open questions at the PSC
The merger is not the only NorthWestern matter on the commission’s plate this fall. Regulators voted 3-1 to send the utility’s long-range resource plan back as deficient, and the commission has been sued over its refusal to consider climate impacts in its decisions, a case the Montana Free Press reported on Oct. 16. The commission has also not yet acted on a proposed rate structure for large data-center customers, a growing issue as developers look at Montana sites for power-hungry computing facilities.
Those threads overlap. Large new loads such as data centers drive the need for new generation, which in turn shapes the resource plan and, eventually, customer bills. Critics of the merger have said Montana needs to keep as much regulatory control as possible while those decisions are made. Supporters say the combined company would be better positioned to finance them.
What happens next
If the commission approves the merger, possibly with conditions, the companies would move to close the transaction and begin operating under the Bright Horizon name. A denial would send the companies back to decide whether to restructure the proposal or abandon it. Either way, parties to the case would have the option to ask the commission to reconsider and, after that, to go to state court.
Customers who want to follow the case can find filings under Docket 2025.10.078 on the Public Service Commission’s website, and public comment can be submitted to the commission in writing. The Montana Statesman will report on the outcome of the Oct. 27 meeting.