Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU) commercial electricity rates in North Dakota

• Average commercial price, 20255.60¢per kWh, all commercial customers
• vs North Dakota average−24%state commercial average 7.36¢
• Commercial customers14,946largest of 12 in North Dakota
• Average use13,524 kWha month per commercial customer
• Average bill$758a month per commercial customer
• Since 2015−33%from 8.33¢ per kWh
• Outages65 mina year per customer · US average 124

Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU) is an investor-owned utility serving 29 counties in North Dakota. Among the 12 North Dakota utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the largest, with about 19% of the state’s commercial customers. EIA lists it as Montana-Dakota Utilities Co.

Montana-Dakota Utilities commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025

In 2015 Montana-Dakota Utilities billed its commercial customers an average of 8.33¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 5.60¢, so it fell 33% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in North Dakota fell 17% over the same period. The highest year was 2022, at 9.91¢. Between 2024 and 2025 it fell 4.1%.

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.

Residential, commercial and industrial prices at Montana-Dakota Utilities

In 2025 the average commercial price at Montana-Dakota Utilities was 49% below the residential figure and 24% below 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.

How Montana-Dakota Utilities’ commercial rates are set

Montana-Dakota Utilities is investor-owned, so its rates are set in cases before the North Dakota 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. There is no competitive supply market for ordinary commercial accounts in North Dakota, so the levers are the schedule, the peak and the amount used.

Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at Montana-Dakota Utilities

EIA counts 14,946 commercial meters at Montana-Dakota Utilities in 2025 and reports no advanced (AMI) meters among them. Of those, 14,946 are automated-reading (AMR) meters, which send a reading to the utility for billing only. Without an advanced meter a business generally has no interval data, so its peak demand is read from the meter’s own register.

At Montana-Dakota Utilities, 339 commercial customers were on a time-varying rate in 2025, about 2.3% of its commercial customers. A time-varying rate charges more in some hours than in others, so when a business uses power matters as well as how much. The kinds Montana-Dakota Utilities reports offering commercial customers are time-of-use pricing.

How reliable is Montana-Dakota Utilities’ electric service?

Montana-Dakota Utilities customers went without power for an average of 65 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 0.70 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. With major storms counted the figure was 95 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.

Where Montana-Dakota Utilities serves

EIA records Montana-Dakota Utilities serving customers in 29 North Dakota counties: Adams, Billings, Bottineau, Bowman, Burke, Burleigh, Dickey, Divide, Dunn, Emmons, Golden Valley, Grant, Hettinger, Kidder, LaMoure, Logan, McIntosh, McKenzie, and 11 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 MISO as its balancing authority. MISO is one of the organised wholesale markets, which run the grid and the wholesale power market across their area.

Other utilities in North Dakota

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

• Otter Tail Power (7.01¢)
• Xcel Energy North Dakota (12.33¢)

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 Montana-Dakota Utilities’ 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 North Dakota page carries the state’s trailing 12 months, which is more recent and still preliminary.

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: Montana-Dakota Utilities commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.

Common questions about Montana-Dakota Utilities

What is the average commercial electricity rate at Montana-Dakota Utilities?

Montana-Dakota Utilities billed its commercial customers in North Dakota an average of 5.60¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 24% below the North Dakota commercial average of 7.36¢. 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 Montana-Dakota Utilities?

About $758 a month in 2025, on average use of about 13,524 kWh a month. That is Montana-Dakota Utilities’ commercial revenue divided by its 14,946 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.

Have Montana-Dakota Utilities’ commercial electricity rates gone up?

The average Montana-Dakota Utilities billed commercial customers fell 33% between 2015 and 2025, from 8.33¢ to 5.60¢ per kWh. The North Dakota commercial average fell 17% over the same period.

How reliable is Montana-Dakota Utilities’ electric service?

Montana-Dakota Utilities customers averaged 65 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).

Is this the rate my business will pay Montana-Dakota Utilities?

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 Montana-Dakota Utilities’ tariff.