NorthWestern Energy commercial electricity rates in Montana

• Average commercial price, 202513.41¢per kWh, customers on bundled service
• vs Montana average+13%state commercial average 11.88¢
• Commercial customers102,692largest of 8 in Montana
• Average use2,558 kWha month per commercial customer
• Average bill$343a month per commercial customer
• Since 2015+17%from 11.51¢ per kWh
• Outages117 mina year per customer · US average 124

NorthWestern Energy is an investor-owned utility serving 36 counties in Montana. Among the 8 Montana utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the largest, with about 72% of the state’s commercial customers. EIA lists it as NorthWestern Energy LLC.

NorthWestern Energy commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025

In 2015 NorthWestern Energy billed its commercial customers on bundled service an average of 11.51¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 13.41¢, so it rose 17% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in Montana rose 16% over the same period. The highest year was 2023, at 14.14¢. Between 2024 and 2025 it was unchanged.

Average use and average bill are the utility’s commercial sales and revenue divided by its commercial customers and by twelve. The bill is an all-in figure: energy, delivery, demand and fixed charges together. A few very large customers pull both averages up, so most businesses use and pay less than the average.

NorthWestern Energy customers who buy their energy from a supplier

In 2025, 3% of the commercial kWh NorthWestern Energy delivered went to customers buying their energy from a competitive supplier, and 0% of its commercial customers did so. The share by kWh is the larger because the businesses that shop tend to be the larger ones. NorthWestern Energy bills those customers for delivery only, at an average of 3.05¢ per kWh, which is the part of a bill that no supplier can change.

Residential, commercial and industrial prices at NorthWestern Energy

In 2025 the average commercial price at NorthWestern Energy was 7.0% below the residential figure and 28% above the industrial one. Larger customers take power at a higher voltage and use it more steadily, so at most utilities the average falls from residential to commercial to industrial. Which class an account falls in is the utility’s decision, and the line between commercial and industrial is drawn differently from one utility to the next.

The customers who buy their energy from a supplier are counted separately, and NorthWestern Energy bills them for delivery alone:

How NorthWestern Energy’s commercial rates are set

NorthWestern Energy is investor-owned, so its rates are set in cases before the Montana Public Service Commission and published in a tariff, which is a public document. A commercial account is billed on a rate schedule, chosen by the size of the account and the voltage it takes power at, and a schedule usually combines a fixed monthly charge, a charge per kWh and, above a certain size, a demand charge on the highest rate of draw in the month. The schedule code is printed on the bill. What a business in Montana can and cannot choose is on the Montana page.

Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at NorthWestern Energy

EIA counts 102,692 commercial meters at NorthWestern Energy in 2025, and 98,666 of them (96%) are advanced meters (AMI), which record use at least hourly and report it to the utility at least daily. Of the rest, 3,610 are automated-reading (AMR) meters, which send a reading to the utility for billing only, and 416 are standard meters. An advanced meter is what makes interval data possible, and interval data is what shows when a building’s peak demand happens.

EIA records 881 commercial net-metered generating systems at NorthWestern Energy in 2025, with 14.8 MW of capacity between them: about 8.6 for every 1,000 commercial customers. Net metering credits a customer for power its own system sends to the grid; the terms are in the utility’s tariff.

How reliable is NorthWestern Energy’s electric service?

NorthWestern Energy customers went without power for an average of 117 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 1.06 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. With major storms counted the figure was 125 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.

Where NorthWestern Energy serves

EIA records NorthWestern Energy serving customers in 36 Montana counties: Beaverhead, Big Horn, Blaine, Broadwater, Carbon, Cascade, Chouteau, Deer Lodge, Fergus, Gallatin, Golden Valley, Granite, Hill, Jefferson, Judith Basin, Lewis and Clark, Liberty, Madison, and 18 more. A county can be shared between utilities, so this does not tell you who serves a given address. The utility that serves an address is the one named on its bill.

EIA lists NorthWestern Energy as its balancing authority, the body that keeps supply and demand matched minute by minute across the area.

Other utilities in Montana

The average each billed its commercial customers in 2025. The Montana page has the state’s own figures and every utility with 500 or more commercial customers.

• Flathead Electric Cooperative (7.82¢)

What these figures can and cannot tell you

• They are averages over every commercial customer. A utility whose commercial customers are mostly large averages fewer cents per kWh than one serving mostly small shops, so a lower figure can mean larger customers and not a lower rate.
• They are not a rate schedule. None of these figures is a charge printed in NorthWestern Energy’s tariff, and nothing here works out a bill from one. The tariff index lists the utilities whose filed schedules are quoted on this site.
• They are annual and final. EIA publishes utility figures once a year. The Montana page carries the state’s trailing 12 months, which is more recent and still preliminary.
• Bundled and delivery-only are different customers. The two prices describe different parts of the bill and are never added together or averaged.

For one building, the cost estimator gives a range by building type, size and state, and price by utility sets every utility side by side. Commercial vs residential vs industrial compares the classes in every state.

Data: every year of these figures, for this utility and every other with a page, is in one CSV, free to use with credit to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and this site. To cite this page: NorthWestern Energy commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.

Common questions about NorthWestern Energy

What is the average commercial electricity rate at NorthWestern Energy?

NorthWestern Energy billed its commercial customers on bundled service in Montana an average of 13.41¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 13% above the Montana commercial average of 11.88¢. It is the utility’s commercial revenue divided by its commercial sales, so it describes the whole class and is not the rate on any one schedule.

How much is the average commercial electric bill at NorthWestern Energy?

About $343 a month in 2025, on average use of about 2,558 kWh a month. That is NorthWestern Energy’s commercial revenue divided by its 102,189 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.

Have NorthWestern Energy’s commercial electricity rates gone up?

The average NorthWestern Energy billed commercial customers rose 17% between 2015 and 2025, from 11.51¢ to 13.41¢ per kWh. The Montana commercial average rose 16% over the same period.

How reliable is NorthWestern Energy’s electric service?

NorthWestern Energy customers averaged 117 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).

Does NorthWestern Energy use smart meters for businesses?

EIA counts 98,666 advanced (AMI) meters among NorthWestern Energy’s 102,692 commercial meters in 2025, which is 96%. An advanced meter records use at least hourly, which is what makes interval data and time-varying rates possible.

Is this the rate my business will pay NorthWestern Energy?

No. It is an average over every commercial customer, from a corner shop to a campus. What one business pays depends on its rate schedule, how much it uses and how hard it draws at its peak. The schedule code is printed on the bill, and the schedule itself is in NorthWestern Energy’s tariff.