Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. (MDU) filed an application with the North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) on June 30, 2026, seeking an overall 14.5% increase that would add $34.5 million in annual revenue. The company serves approximately 94,700 electric customers in North Dakota.
What customers would pay
MDU is asking the PSC to raise its North Dakota electric rates by 14.5% overall, or $34.5 million. Residential customers would face a bigger jump than the average, about 19%, or roughly $19 more a month for a typical household.
The commission will first take up an interim rate increase while it considers the full case. MDU has proposed an interim increase in which a typical residential customer would see a rise of about $12.90 per month, or 12.3% over current rates.
If approved, the interim rates would take effect Sept. 1 and would increase revenue by $26.3 million annually.
The increase is now under review by the PSC. Director of Public Utilities Victor Schock explained the process to local media, saying “There’s a whole procedure that kind of begins at that point.” He added that the commission’s first step is suspending the rate so it cannot change while the case is reviewed, a step completed about a week to a week and a half before his remarks.
Why MDU says rates must rise
MDU cited three primary drivers for the request: increased operations and maintenance expenses, investments made since the company’s last rate filing in May 2022, and the corresponding depreciation on those infrastructure investments.
One significant expense is increased labor costs, the company said. One large grid project not related to the rate request, according to MDU vice president for regulatory affairs Travis Jacobson, is the Jamestown-to-Ellendale transmission line.
Jacobson told lawmakers on the Legislature’s Energy Development and Transmission Committee that the rate increase request is not related to data centers MDU serves or data center projects. Large energy users, such as data centers, pay their own costs, and their usage can help offset costs for other customers, the company said.
MDU told lawmakers that power use by large customers delivered $45.4 million in benefits to North Dakota customers over the last three years, or about $62 per customer. MDU is among the utilities that have signed a Trump administration pledge not to pass data center costs onto customers, as has North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong.
A national wave of rate filings
The MDU filing is part of a broader surge in utility rate cases this year. PowerLines’ latest quarterly index shows utilities have requested $18.6 billion in electric and gas rate increases during the first half of 2026, including a record $9.2 billion in the second quarter of this year alone, surpassing the total in Q2 2025, the previous Q2 record, by 26 percent.
That second-quarter total affected more than 56 million U.S. customer accounts. North Carolina alone accounted for nearly $900 million of those requests as Duke Energy’s separate base rate case remains before state regulators.
The MDU filing is not the only multi-state move the company made on June 30. Montana-Dakota Utilities also filed with the Wyoming Public Service Commission that same day to increase electric prices, a move that would raise the average residential customer’s monthly bill by about $27.80 if approved.
Utility customers seeking context on how transmission infrastructure costs flow into base rates can follow the BGE $156 million Maryland rate case and a broader look at how transmission charges have climbed across major U.S. grids for more than a decade.
What comes next
Utilities cannot raise prices on their own. They must file an application with their state’s Public Utility Commission and provide detailed financial justification. The review process typically takes several months to more than a year before any change takes effect.
The request is subject to review by the PSC, which will determine whether the proposed increase is appropriate. There is no immediate impact to customer bills while the review is underway.
The commission’s decision on the proposed interim 12.3% rate, which would affect bills starting Sept. 1, is the next near-term milestone for the roughly 94,700 affected customers in North Dakota.
