NorthWestern Corporation

NorthWestern Corporation owns NorthWestern Energy, a utility company that serves South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana that is based in Sioux Falls. As of 2019, the company serves approximately 718,000 customers.[1] The company's corporate headquarters are located in Sioux Falls while the headquarters for the South Dakota operations (and which was the headquarters for the old NorthWestern Public Service Company) are in Huron, SD.

NorthWestern Corporation
TypePublic
NASDAQ: NWE
S&P 400 Component
IndustryUtilities
FoundedNovember 27, 1923 as Northwestern Public Service Company
Headquarters
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
,
USA
Area served
Eastern South Dakota, Western Montana
Key people
Albert Emanuel, Founder
E. Linn Draper Jr., Chairman;,
Robert C. Rowe, President and CEO
Productsutility operations consist of regulated electric and natural gas distribution, transmission and energy supply. In addition, they are pursuing electric transmission and generation opportunities.
ServicesConventional electricity
Natural gas
Number of employees
1,600[1]
Websitehttp://www.northwesternenergy.com/

History

The Montana operations (formerly known as the Montana Power Company) were acquired around 2000 after that state passed legislation allowing the electric utility industry to be 'unbundled'. Out of state investors (led by Pennsylvania Power & Light) then immediately acquired the generation assets of Montana Power, leaving that part of the territory vulnerable to high "spot" prices on the energy market (creating some chronic discontent that led the Montana Public Service Commission to submit the one "no" vote that effectively nullified a potential sale of NorthWestern to Babcock & Brown Infrastructure of Australia). In 2014, NorthWestern purchased the dams that were originally part of Montana Power for $900 Million from the PPL Corporation.[2]

Controversies

In March, 2003, a class action was filed against Northwestern Corp, claiming that defendants artificially inflated the stock price through material omissions and materially false and misleading statements.[3] A $41 million settlement fund was established in 2005. On April 1, 2003, as a result of the ongoing evaluation and review of certain accounting entries, NorthWestern said it expects to restate prior unaudited quarterly results for the first three quarters of 2002.[4]

In March 2009, NorthWestern Energy was involved with a gas explosion in Bozeman, Montana. The explosion destroyed several businesses and killed one person. By November, the company was sued by numerous owners of the destroyed businesses.[5]

References
  1. NorthWestern Energy - Our Company
  2. NorthWestern Energy closes deal to purchase PPL Montana hydroelectric facilities
  3. "Class Action Lawsuit Against Northwestern Corp". The Free Library.
  4. "NorthWestern Requests Extension to File 2002 Annual Report On Form 10-K; Company Further Updates Projected 2002 Charges to Approximately $880 Million" (Press release). 1 April 2003.
  5. "Explosion". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Retrieved 2013-02-22.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.