1 week Ago By AMY [email protected]
BILLINGS — The two candidates vying for a $115,880-a-year position representing south-central Montana on the Public Service Commission faced off during a recent debate in Billings. Republican Brad Molnar and Democrat Susan Bilo took questions on utility rates and energy policy from a crowd of about two dozen at the Billings Public Library on Friday evening. The two are competing on the Nov.
5 ballot for a four-year term on the PSC serving District 2. PSC District 2 stretches across southern Montana from Bozeman to Custer and includes parts of Gallatin, Park, Carbon, Stillwater, Sweetgrass, Big Horn, Rosebud and Yellowstone counties. The five-member PSC regulates private utility companies that provide electricity, water, wastewater, and telecommunications services in the state, such as NorthWestern Energy and Montana-Dakota Utilities.
Commissioners are tasked with balancing the consumer's right to reliable, reasonably-priced services with a monopoly utility's right to make a fair return on investment. Anyone who buys electric or gas service from a company that isn't a cooperative, pays rates approved by the PSC. Molnar, 74, is a state senator from Laurel who previously served in the Montana House from 1993 to 2001 and on the PSC from 2005 to 2013.
Bilo, 62, is a former energy specialist for the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
She now teaches courses involving efficient, sustainable and renewable energy technologies at MSU's Gallatin College in Bozeman. Both candidates said they question the metrics NorthWestern is using to request rate hikes. Bilo said she wants to see more investment in renewable energy sources, such as utility-scale wind and solar with battery storage, and efficiency measures that could bring down the cost of utility bills and better prepare Montana for the future.
She suggested the state could benefit from policies and projects similar to those in Idaho, where she said residents pay about half as much for utilities. "We have many more choices now," Bilo said. "So now, more than ever, we need a utility that's open minded about what other options we have for providing energy that are still reliable and safe.
And what's beautiful right now is that it can also be clean." Molnar said he'd like to see NorthWestern turn it into a member-owned cooperative and would lead legislators to carry bills that would allow people to vote on it. He suggested Montana would benefit from a public utility model similar to that of Nebraska, which he said has among the lowest energy costs in the nation.
"If you don't like what's going on, and nobody here does, then don't do the same thing. Try something different," he said. "There's no reason we have to be mum on this point.
" The debate was moderated by Billings attorney and former state lawmaker Tom Towe and Tony O'Donnell, who currently represents District 2 on the PSC. O'Donnell said he found both candidates are knowledgeable about energy and is confident either one would care about the job if elected on Nov. 5.
Voters can learn more about the candidates by visiting their websites at and ..
