Montana infrastructure

Montana data center power rates and tariffs: who pays.

NorthWestern Energy Montana: Proposal documented.

Proposal documented. Checked: October 28, 2026.

Evidence applies only to the subjects and dates in the linked sources. State context does not assign a tariff, permit or quantity to every facility.

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Sourced findings.

Montana
A two point comparison, not a complete time series. State average revenue per unit sold is not a household bill. No causal attribution to data centers.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Source: September 24, 2026. Checked: October 23, 2026.
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Montana
Captured August residential comparison. The earlier July comparison remains in the source history. State average revenue per unit sold is not a household bill or evidence of a data center effect.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Source: Publication date not stated. Checked: October 23, 2026.
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NorthWestern Montana filed large load application and unreviewed exhibit
Dated proposed utility terms in a complete application, with source boundary and threshold wording differences retained. Requested tariff and future agreement approval are not existing approval, actual load or measured ratepayer savings.
NorthWestern Energy. Source: March 31, 2026. Checked: October 24, 2026.
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MISO dated preliminary regional large load submissions
One historical regional EPR request chart repeated across partial footprint states. Requests are not load or approved projects.
Midcontinent Independent System Operator. Source: Publication date not stated. Checked: October 24, 2026.
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SPP dated annual large load request history
Historical annual regional Attachment AQ requests, not current queue, approved connections, state totals or operating load.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, original hosted by Southwest Power Pool. Source: Publication date not stated. Checked: October 24, 2026.
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Montana commercial and industrial electricity prices
State sector average revenue per kilowatthour sold, not a quoted tariff, individual bill, dedicated data center rate or evidence of a data center effect. August2026 preliminary and August2025 final. Commercial and industrial customer classification may change; averages do not establish a facility customer class.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Source: October 23, 2026. Checked: October 26, 2026.
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Montana historical commercial and industrial electricity prices
Historical July2026 preliminary and July2025 final state sector average revenue per kilowatthour sold. Not August values, a quoted tariff, data center customer classification, individual bill or measured data center impact. Utility sector classification and independent rounding limitations remain.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Source: September 24, 2026. Checked: October 23, 2026.
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Montana utility scale generation
Utility scale facility net generation by state and producer sector, August2026 preliminary versus August2025 final. Energy is reported in thousand megawatthours, not MW capacity, electricity sales, customer consumption, grid reliability or data center demand. Commercial and industrial here classify generators, not electricity customers. Small scale generation is outside this table. NM means not meaningful due to large relative standard error or excessive percentage change, not zero. Negative net generation means plant use exceeds gross generation. Components and percentage changes retain independent rounding; no facility association or causal data center inference.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Source: October 23, 2026. Checked: October 27, 2026.
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Montana utility scale generation
Utility scale facility net generation by state and producer sector, January through August2026 preliminary versus January through August2025 final; cumulative year to date, not August alone or a full annual total. Energy is reported in thousand megawatthours, not MW capacity, electricity sales, customer consumption, grid reliability or data center demand. Commercial and industrial here classify generators, not electricity customers. Small scale generation is outside this table. NM means not meaningful due to large relative standard error or excessive percentage change, not zero. Negative net generation means plant use exceeds gross generation. Components and percentage changes retain independent rounding; no facility association or causal data center inference.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Source: October 23, 2026. Checked: October 27, 2026.
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Montana utility scale net summer capacity
Net summer capacity of utility scale units by technology and state, August2026 preliminary versus August2025 final,in MW. Facilities with total generator nameplate capacity less than1MW are excluded; this is a facility threshold,not a claim that every unit is at least1MW. Concentrated Solar Power Energy Storage is included in Renewable Sources,not Other Energy Storage. Renewable,fossil,pumped storage,other storage,nuclear andother categories are distinct. Not nameplate capacity,energy generation,MWh storage volume,dispatchable output,reserve margin,grid availability or power allocated to data centers. Zero does not establish no projects or resources; no small scale capacity or facility association inferred.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Source: October 23, 2026. Checked: October 27, 2026.
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Montana historical IEEE distribution reliability2025 and2024
EIA Electric Power Annual Table11.2 historical2025 and2024 distribution-system reliability reported using IEEE1366. Coverage varies by state and year;percent of customers reported is meters on the reliability schedule divided by customers on the sales schedule and can exceed100percent,not a probability or uptime percentage. SAIDI is annual minutes of non-momentary interruptions experienced by the average customer;SAIFI is annual number of interruptions;CAIDI is minutes per interruption. All events,without major event days,and loss of supply removed are distinct series,not additive. Loss of supply removed excludes high-voltage/bulk-system supply-loss outages,not all major events. Source blanks remain unknown with no stated individual cause;literal source zeros remain zero. No complete utility census,site-specific uptime,SLA,transmission reliability,capacity availability,data center load effect or causal attribution.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Source: October 21, 2026. Checked: October 27, 2026.
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Montana historical any-method distribution reliability2025 and2024
EIA Electric Power Annual Table11.3 historical2025 and2024 distribution-system reliability using any method. Any method combines utilities using IEEE standards and utilities not using IEEE;it is not a separate disjoint population to add to Table11.2. For IEEE utilities major event days use a daily SAIDI threshold from five years of daily values;non-IEEE utilities self-determine major events. All events and without major events remain distinct,not additive or equivalent to IEEE loss-of-supply-removed. Reporting coverage varies by state/year;meters on the reliability schedule divided by sales-schedule customers may exceed100percent,not uptime or probability. SAIDI annual minutes,SAIFI annual interruption counts and CAIDI minutes per interruption remain separate. Source-reported customer averages are not individual site performance,SLA,complete utility coverage,current2026 observations,bulk transmission capacity or data center causation. No Native or facility joins.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Source: October 21, 2026. Checked: October 27, 2026.
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