Montana · Investor Owned

NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) Electricity Rates

Average residential price, customers served and derived annual usage from EIA Form 861, 2024 release.

14.23¢
Avg residential price / kWh
328.1K
Residential customers
+7.9%
vs Montana average
$1,214
Implied avg annual bill

NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) charged an average of 14.23¢ per kWh to residential customers in 2024 - close to the Montana average and below the US average.

NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) is investor owned - a shareholder-owned company whose retail rates are set through a state regulatory commission. Its reported average residential price is close to the Montana customer-weighted average (+7.9%). Its customers used near the national residential norm at about 8,535 kWh a year each.

How this price compares

Ranked by price against the 14 utilities reporting residential rates in Montana, NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) comes 13th of 14. The state's range runs from Black Hills Power, Inc. at 6.96¢ to Fergus Electric Coop, Inc at 15.52¢, so where a household sits inside Montana depends far more on which utility serves it than on the statewide average alone.

Against the 3 other investor owned utilities reporting in Montana, which averaged 9.45¢, NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) is far above its own ownership class within the state (+50.6%).

All figures come from the 2024 release, so no comparison mixes vintages. The state figure is customer-weighted across 14 reporting utilities.

Where NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) sits among Montana utilities

2024 average residential price across the 14 utilities reporting a rate in Montana

14.23¢/kWh 8th affordability percentile More affordable than 8% of 13 other utilities

NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT)

average residential price, equal-width bands

Each bar spans 2¢/kWh. Taller bars contain more utilities; the dashed marker locates this utility. Hover, focus or tap a bar for its exact count and share.

Source EIA Form 861 · 2024

NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) average residential price against three benchmarks, 2024
BenchmarkPrice / kWhDifference
NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) 14.23¢ -
Montana (customer-weighted, 14 utilities) 13.19¢ +7.9%
United States average 16.48¢ -13.7%
Investor Owned utilities nationally (183) 17.36¢ -18.1%

Rate against consumption: Montana utilities

Each dot is one of the 14 Montana utilities reporting both a residential price and residential sales in 2024, placed by its rank percentile within that group rather than its raw value, so one very large utility cannot flatten the rest. Bubble size follows customers served, rank-scaled so a utility with millions of customers cannot swamp the rest. NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) is highlighted. In Montana the cheapest rate and the smallest implied annual bill happen to belong to the same utility, Black Hills Power, Inc.; across the country they usually do not. 2×2 strategic matrix plotting 14 entities by Price rank percentile (100 = most expensive in state) (X) and Consumption rank percentile (100 = heaviest use) (Y), with a crosshair dividing the plot into four quadrants. Costly rate, heavy useCheaper rate, heavy useCostly rate, light useCheaper rate, light use -50050100150 -50050100150 Price rank percentile (100 = most expensive in state) Consumption rank percentile (100 = heaviest use)
Each dot is one of the 14 Montana utilities reporting both a residential price and residential sales in 2024, placed by its rank percentile within that group rather than its raw value, so one very large utility cannot flatten the rest. Bubble size follows customers served, rank-scaled so a utility with millions of customers cannot swamp the rest. NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) is highlighted. In Montana the cheapest rate and the smallest implied annual bill happen to belong to the same utility, Black Hills Power, Inc.; across the country they usually do not.

Scale and consumption

NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) reported 328.1K residential customers, ranking 1st of 14 utilities in Montana by customers served and covering 68.5% of the state's reported residential customers.

Dividing reported residential sales by customers served gives about 8,535 kWh per customer per year - near the national residential norm, implying a typical annual bill near $1,214.

Within Montana the median reporting utility sells about 12,881 kWh per customer, so NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) customers use -33.7% against their own state's middle. Consumption this light usually tracks denser housing, gas heating or a milder service territory, which softens the bill impact of a high per-kWh price.

Every utility reporting in Montana

All 14 utilities reporting bundled residential service in Montana, largest first, with NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) marked. The named companies either side of it are the ones a household in this state might otherwise be served by.

Residential utilities in Montana, 2024, ranked by customers served
Utility Ownership Customers Avg ¢/kWh
NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) (this page) Investor Owned 328.1K 14.23¢
Flathead Electric Coop Inc Cooperative 63.3K 9.67¢
Yellowstone Valley Elec Co-op Cooperative 21.2K 13.35¢
Montana-Dakota Utilities Co Investor Owned 19.6K 12.89¢
USBIA-Mission Valley Power Federal 16.3K 8.91¢
Missoula Electric Coop, Inc Cooperative 14.7K 10.50¢
Fergus Electric Coop, Inc Cooperative 6.7K 15.52¢
Northern Lights, Inc Cooperative 4.0K 12.52¢
Lower Yellowstone R E A, Inc Cooperative 3.5K 8.83¢
Fall River Rural Elec Coop Inc Cooperative 1.5K 11.39¢
Powder River Energy Corp Cooperative 52 12.69¢
McKenzie Electric Coop Inc Cooperative 25 8.61¢
Black Hills Power, Inc. Investor Owned 12 6.96¢
Avista Corp Investor Owned 9 8.50¢

For generation mix and price history statewide, see electricity rates in Montana.

Common questions about NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) rates

How much does NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) charge per kWh?
NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) reported an average residential price of 14.23¢ per kWh across its bundled residential customers in the 2024 EIA Form 861 release. That is an annual average across all its residential customers, not a rate schedule, so an individual bill depends on the tariff, usage pattern and season.
Is NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) expensive compared with the rest of Montana?
Its average residential price is close to the Montana customer-weighted average of 13.19¢ per kWh, a difference of +7.9%. The state figure is weighted by customers across the 14 utilities reporting residential service in Montana.
What is the average electricity bill for NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) customers?
Dividing reported residential sales by residential customers gives about 8,535 kWh per customer per year. At the reported average price that implies roughly $1,214 a year, or about $101 a month. This is RateWatt's arithmetic on two EIA columns, not a figure EIA publishes.
Who owns NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT)?
EIA classifies NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) as Investor Owned, a shareholder-owned company whose retail rates are set through a state regulatory commission. Nationally, Investor Owned utilities averaged 17.36¢ per kWh in the 2024 release.

What this page does and does not tell you

  • An average across bundled residential customers for the year, revenue divided by sales, not a rate schedule.
  • Form 861 presence is not evidence of availability at an address or of customer choice.

See our methodology, why energy prices vary and understanding rate structures.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Form 861 annual electric power industry report, 2024 release. Retrieved and formatted by RateWatt.

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional or financial advice. Data is sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Rates change and averages do not describe any individual account. Consult your utility or a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Every figure on RateWatt is rendered directly from official U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, no number is typed in by an editor. Average price, customers and sales are reported by EIA Form 861 (2024). Per-customer annual usage, the implied annual bill, the customer-weighted state average and every percentage difference are RateWatt's arithmetic on those reported columns. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2025.