Create transparency in energy economics

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69th Legislature 2025 SB 445.1
- 1 - Authorized Print Version – SB 445
1 SENATE BILL NO. 445
2 INTRODUCED BY C. POPE, W. CURDY, M. DUNWELL, J. ELLIS, D. FERN, P. FLOWERS, E. KERR-
3 CARPENTER, A. OLSEN
4
5 A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: “AN ACT CREATING TRANSPARENCY IN ENERGY ECONOMICS;
6 REQUIRING AN INVESTOR-OWNED UTILITY TO PROVIDE ITS CUSTOMER BASE A TRANSPARENT
7 ENERGY DASHBOARD; REQUIRING A PUBLIC UTILITY TO PROVIDE ITS CUSTOMER BASE A
8 QUARTERLY POWER SOURCE DISCLOSURE; ESTABLISHING CRITERIA AND REPORTING
9 REQUIREMENTS; PROVIDING DEFINITIONS; AND PROVIDING A DELAYED EFFECTIVE DATE.”
10
11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
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13 NEW SECTION. Section 1. Short title. [Sections 1 through 5] may be cited as the "Montana
14 Transparency in Energy Economics Act".
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16 NEW SECTION. Section 2. Legislative findings. The legislature finds and declares the following:
17 (1) It is necessary for residential and small commercial energy consumers to better understand the
18 operating characteristics and costs that affect their billing statements.
19 (2) Investor-owned utilities shall provide real-time data related to the operating costs of each
20 energy generating resource, the price of converting the energy into electricity, the price of transporting
21 electricity through transmission and distribution lines, and the events or disturbances that lead to higher prices
22 for consumers.
23 (3) It is necessary to provide consumers with the economics that affect their power bills using an
24 energy dashboard that is easy to access and navigate, user-friendly, and transparent.
25
26 NEW SECTION. Section 3. Definitions. As used in [sections 1 through 5], unless the context clearly
27 indicates otherwise, the following definitions apply:
28 (1) "Average residential customer" means a customer with 750 kilowatt hours of electricity
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69th Legislature 2025 SB 445.1
- 2 - Authorized Print Version – SB 445
1 consumption each month.
2 (2) "Investor-owned utility" means a private company that is owned by shareholders, acts as a
3 public utility, and is regulated by the public service commission.
4 (3) "Load" means an end-use device or customer that receives power from the electric system.
5 (4) "Load-serving entities" means a utility or electricity supplier regulated by the public service
6 commission that supplies electricity directly to a consumer.
7 (5) "Energy dashboard" means a web-based source of real-time or dynamic real-time
8 approximations of grid energy operations that drive consumer economics.
9 (6) "Off-peak" means the time when less electricity is being consumed or a low-demand period.
10 (7) "Peak" means the time when the most electricity is being consumed or a high-demand period.
11 (8) "Public utility" means a public utility as defined in 69-3-101 that provides electric or natural gas
12 service. The term includes municipal utilities.
13 (9) "Transmission facilities" means facilities that are used to provide transmission services and are
14 owned, controlled, or operated by a public utility.
15 (10) "Transmission service provider" means an entity controlling or operating a transmission facility.
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17 NEW SECTION. Section 4. Energy dashboard -- reporting. (1) On or before June 1, 2026, an
18 energy dashboard must be designed, built, and hosted by investor-owned utilities to provide their customer
19 base with real-time reporting of publicly available data sets that include:
20 (a) the in-state rate-based electricity supply resources within an investor-owned utility's portfolio;
21 and
22 (b) the real-time, or best approximated real-time, electrical grid contribution for each rate-based
23 electricity supply resource in megawatt units and the unit cost for each megawatt hour. The dashboard must
24 compare each electricity supply resource's contribution to the electrical grid and its associated costs.
25 (2) The dashboard must provide the year-to-date contribution of each electricity supply resource's,
26 operating capacity, production cost, and the average cost for each megawatt hour.
27 (3) The investor-owned utility shall develop a formula to display the cost for each kilowatt hour of
28 each electricity supply resource as it relates to an average residential customer's monthly billing statement.
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69th Legislature 2025 SB 445.1
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1 (4) If an electricity supply resource surges in production cost or becomes unavailable during load
2 sustainment, the investor-owned utility shall provide that information to the dashboard.
3 (5) The investor-owned utility, applicable transmission service providers, and load-serving entities
4 may participate in open data sharing to ensure an investor-owned utility's dashboard provides:
5 (a) extreme peak and off-peak load events;
6 (b) transmission facility available import, export, and transfer capacity;
7 (c) the timing, size, and price for each megawatt hour of electricity market purchases and sales;
8 and
9 (d) grid reliability reports.
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11 NEW SECTION. Section 5. Public utility quarterly power source disclosure -- requirements. (1)
12 On or before June 1, 2026, notwithstanding any current provision in Title 69, a public utility shall provide its
13 customer base with a quarterly power source disclosure. The quarterly power source disclosure must include:
14 (a) the source of power consumed by customer class in kilowatt-hour units and the quarterly
15 average unit cost for each kilowatt hour consumed by power source; and
16 (b) sources of power by technology type that contribute to a public utility's resource portfolio
17 serving the customer base. The technology types are as follows:
18 (i) coal;
19 (ii) natural gas;
20 (iii) hydroelectric;
21 (iv) wind;
22 (v) solar; and
23 (vi) any additional energy generating resource that serves load.
24 (2) The quarterly power source disclosure must also include power purchased by a public utility on
25 behalf of its customer base during the quarterly period from noncontracted, same-day electricity markets.
26 (3) A public utility may provide the quarterly power disclosure within a customer's monthly billing
27 statement.
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69th Legislature 2025 SB 445.1
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1 NEW SECTION. Section 6. Codification instruction. [Sections 1 through 5] are intended to be
2 codified as an integral part of Title 69, chapter 3, and the provisions of Title 69, chapter 3, apply to [sections 1
3 through 5].
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5 NEW SECTION. Section 7. Effective date. [This act] is effective June 1, 2026.
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