Missoula city-county adopts green-power agreement headed to Montana PSC
Missoula city and county officials adopted a green-power agreement with NorthWestern Energy on July 27, 2026, taking a formal local-government step toward a proposed renewable-power purchasing option that still requires state regulatory approval.
The agreement was negotiated with NorthWestern Energy and is intended to create an option for purchasing green power from a new renewable-energy source. Reporting on the agreement described it as intended to establish Montana’s first option to purchase green power from a new renewable source.
The action is a local adoption of an agreement, not a completed utility program. The next major procedural decision belongs to the Montana Public Service Commission, which must approve the agreement before the proposed program can proceed.
State filing anticipated this fall
Missoula, Missoula County and NorthWestern Energy anticipate filing the program with the Public Service Commission in fall 2026. The packet does not provide an exact filing date.
A fall filing is an anticipated next step, rather than a confirmation that an application has been submitted or that the commission has acted. Public Service Commission approval had not occurred as of the available reporting.
That distinction is consequential for residents and institutions interested in the proposed option. The local governments have adopted the agreement, but the program is not described in the available sources as operational, and the sources do not establish that customers can enroll.
Bozeman is part of the arrangement
The City of Bozeman is also part of the lead-community arrangement. City of Missoula materials identify Missoula, Missoula County, Bozeman and NorthWestern Energy as participants working toward binding agreements for the program.
Those participating governments and the utility are therefore positioned for the state-review phase, but the available information does not identify a commission docket, a hearing schedule or a deadline for a ruling. The commission’s approval remains required under the reported process.
What the agreement does — and does not yet settle
The agreement creates a government-backed pathway toward an option to purchase power from a new renewable source. It does not, based on the available sources, settle the program’s final customer price or the generation capacity of the renewable source.
Nor do the sources give a date on which the option would become available. Whether the proposed green-power program advances beyond the local agreement now depends on the anticipated Public Service Commission filing and the commission’s review.
For now, the July 27 action marks the completion of the local adoption stage. The planned fall 2026 filing is the next known milestone, and it is separate from approval, implementation or customer enrollment.
Sources
- Missoula city-county, with Bozeman, adopt green power agreement, Missoula Current
- Green Power Program, City of Missoula