Montana regulators met Tuesday to take action on NorthWestern Energys planned merger with Black Hills Energy, but they ended up delaying a final decision for two weeks.The Montana Public Service Commission voted 3-2 Tuesday to p ut off their action until Nov. 10, so they can consider adding one more condition to the deal.PSC Vice President Jennifer Fielder proposed the additional condition, which deals with NorthWesterns newly acquired share of the Colstrip power plant. She said the delay would give more time for commissioners and the public to review the idea.I think the intent here is just full transparency, Fielder said.(Watch the video for more on the delayed decision.) Montana PSC delays decision on NorthWestern Energy-Black Hills Energy mergerNorthWestern is Montanas largest utility, serving more than 400,000 electric customers and 250,000 natural gas customers across the state. Its parent company also serves customers in South Dakota and Nebraska. Black Hills Energy operates utilities that serve 1.35 million customers in eight states, including a few commercial, industrial and residential electric customers in southeastern Montana.Last year, the two companies announced their parent companies would merge. NorthWestern and Black Hills would continue their utility operations under their current names, but they would be under a holding company called Bright Horizon Energy based in Black Hills headquarters of Rapid City, South Dakota, and with NorthWestern CEO Brian Bird as CEO.Company leaders have said merging would make them stronger, more resilient and better able to access financing.Theyve cited a number of reasons for merging, which really come down to the fact that it will enable these two relatively small utility holding companies to be bigger, in an industry where size matters, said Pamela Snyder-Varns, a PSC staff attorney.Commission staff recommended approval of the merger, saying it wouldnt harm ratepayers and would be in the public interest. They stated customers rates wouldnt rise because of the deal, since the companies agreed not to pass on the costs of the merger to ratepayers and they would only be able to seek later transition costs if they could show the deal had saved money. They argued NorthWesterns service wouldnt be harmed since its utility operations would continue to be managed in-state and staffed by Montanans, and because the companies said they wouldnt make immediate job cuts.Several of the parties that originally objected to the merger including the Montana Consumer Counsel, the office charged with representing customers interests eventually reached settlements with the companies and supported moving forward with the deal under specific conditions. The MCCs settlement called for ring-fencing to limit how NorthWesterns assets can be used for affiliated companies, and for a $10 million one-time bill credit to ratepayers.However, not everyone is on board with the merger. The PSC took public comment from about 25 people Tuesday all opposed to the deal. Their biggest objection was the argument that the merger was intended to put the companies in position to significantly expand their services to data centers.If the merger is approved, these data center plans will have major implications for existing customers of the utility, said Nick Fitzmaurice, energy transition engineer for the Montana Environmental Information Center. The commission appears to be putting the cart before the horse with a draft order to approve the proposed merger today, before resolving these other extremely important questions around data center service and existing customer rates.PSC staff said the agency is already considering a large load tariff to manage how NorthWestern serves large customers like data centers, and that this merger wasnt the appropriate place to discuss those questions. When the commissioners began their discussion of the merger, Fielder said she would move to postpone a final decision.There's still some outstanding issues that I would like the commission to be able to address through conditions on this proceeding, she said.Fielders suggestion was to require NorthWestern to make sure that Montana retail customers have access to the 370 megawatts of Colstrip power production that the company acquired from Puget Sound Energy if and when its needed and only if that energy was at the least cost.NorthWestern placed the share of the Colstrip plant they got from PSE into a federally regulated subsidiary outside the PSCs regulatory jurisdiction. The company said that move would protect Montana customers from paying the costs of the power, but opponents accused NorthWestern of keeping its in-state customers from accessing a cheaper source of power.President Jeff Welborn and Commissioner Randy Pinocci joined Fielder in voting to delay action. Commissioner Annie Bukacek spoke against postponing the vote.Every delay costs ratepayers, additional staff time, travel time for attorneys and administrators, taking staff away from other dockets that are also pressing, she said.Also voting against delaying action was Kirk Bushman, who was temporarily appointed to the PSC by Gov. Greg Gianforte in August. Bushman is serving through next July in place of suspended Commissioner Brad Molnar, after Gianforte removed Molnar from office for a year over an investigation into his workplace conduct.Molnar filed a request to the Montana Supreme Court, asking them to block the PSC from taking a final vote on the merger while hes under suspension. The court denied that motion last week.Utility regulators in Nebraska and South Dakota and at the federal level have already approved the merger. That means the Montana PSC is the last major approval the deal needs. ...read more read less