Montana · Investor Owned · investor

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

Among 194 utilities with 100,000 or more residential customers, NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) ranks #108 by average cents per kWh and #87 by residential customers. 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 Form 861 US customer-weighted average.

San Diego Gas & Electric Co ranks #1 of 194 by average residential cents per kWh (43.63¢, 307,982 customers, customers rank #90). Florida Power & Light Co ranks #1 of 194 by residential customers (5,236,277 customers at 13.71¢, price rank #122). The highest average rate is not the largest customer count. 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.

  • San Diego Gas & Electric Co 43.63¢ · customers rank #90
  • Florida Power & Light Co 5,236,277 customers · price rank #122

Highest average rate is not the most customers

Residential customers for the average-rate #1 and customers #1 utilities among 194 with 100,000 or more residential customers

residential customers
  • FL size
    5,236,277
  • CA rate
    307,982

What this shows San Diego Gas & Electric Co ranks #1 of 194 by average residential cents per kWh (43.63¢, 307,982 customers, customers rank #90). Florida Power & Light Co ranks #1 of 194 by residential customers (5,236,277 customers at 13.71¢, price rank #122). The highest average rate is not the largest customer count.

Source EIA Form 861 residential survey, latest release. Average cents per kWh and customer counts from the same rows; no tariff or bill is implied. As of 2024

EIA Form 861 utility filing desk

Release MT-2024 · NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) ABOVE STATE

NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) · Form 861 2024 · ABOVE STATE

  • RATE 14.23¢/kWh
  • RANK #13/14
  • VS-ST +7.9%
  • VS-US -16.9%
  • CUST 328k
  • BILL $1,214
  • OWN IOU
  • PHOTO DE 0.01¢
  • BOOK 87/194

Nearest Form 861 price peer: Delaware Electric Cooperative (DE) (-0.01¢ gap)

EIA Form 861 residential filing stamps for this utility record. Read with this utility → · Montana rates

NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) in the Form 861 price neighbourhood

Average residential ¢/kWh among this utility and nearest indexable peers

¢/kWh
  • VA
    14
  • DE
    14
  • this util
    14
  • KS
    14
  • KS
    14

What this shows NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) reports 14.23¢/kWh, corpus customer-rank 87 of 194.

Source EIA Form 861 residential survey As of 2024
F46/100

RateWatt cost context

How NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) compares on reported cost context

A weighted comparison, not a tariff quote, reliability grade, service-quality score, or recommendation. Lower price and lower implied annual bill score better against reporting utilities in Montana; the state generation context is shown separately.

Price against state peers
8/100

14.23¢/kWh · median 10.94¢/kWh

Implied annual bill against state peers
85/100

$1,214/yr · median $1,381/yr

State renewable generation context
82/100

57.8% · median 22.8%

Weights: 50% price, 30% implied annual bill, 20% state renewable-generation context. Unreported inputs are excluded and the remaining weights are redistributed. Price and bill use EIA Form 861 (2024); generation context uses EIA state generation data (2025) and is not attributed to this provider.

Rate comparison

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, whose customer-weighted average is 12.88¢, NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) is above its own ownership class within the state (+10.5%).

State price distribution

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%
US Form 861 customer-weighted average (1.5K utilities) 17.11¢ -16.9%
Investor Owned customer-weighted US avg (183 utilities) 18.37¢ -22.5%

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 050100150 050100150 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.

Territory and usage

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 - -33.7% against the Montana median of 12,881 kWh , implying a typical annual bill near $1,214.

State peers

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.

Ownership class peers

Investor Owned utilities with similar residential prices

Beyond Montana, these indexable investor owned utilities report the closest residential averages to NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) in the same Form 861 release. Peer sets differ by ownership class and price, not a shared national list.

Same-ownership utilities outside Montana nearest in residential price
Utility State Customers Avg ¢/kWh
Evergy Kansas South, Inc Kansas 302.5K 14.25¢
Evergy Kansas Central, Inc Kansas 341.8K 14.29¢
Virginia Electric & Power Co Virginia 2.4M 14.09¢
PacifiCorp Oregon 547.2K 14.02¢
Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC South Carolina 568.6K 13.99¢

FAQ

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, the customer-weighted average across Investor Owned utilities was 18.37¢ per kWh in the 2024 Form 861 release.

Limitations

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 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, the Form 861 US customer-weighted average, the ownership-class customer-weighted average, and every percentage difference are RateWatt's arithmetic on those reported columns, never the separate EIA retail-sales statewide series. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2025.