NorthWestern Shareholders Given Rosy Picture

Other projects include the proposed Mountain States Transmission Intertie, a 500-kilovolt power line extending several hundred miles across private and public lands in southwestern Montana and southeastern Idaho.

In November, Montana utility regulators gave final approval for NorthWestern Energy ratepayers to buy Montana's Colstrip 4 power plant in a $407 million deal. The Public Service Commission said the prospect of stability in consumers' power rates influenced the approval.

Colstrip 4 will be the first large-scale power plant owned by Montana's main utility since energy deregulation occurred in the late 1990s and Montana Power Co. broke up.

Rowe said NorthWestern has been buying power "in a market that is becoming more and more challenging" and the company wants to rebuild a system with in-house generation of power in Montana. Seventy percent of NorthWestern's business is in Montana, according to company spokeswoman Claudia Rapkoch.

After the meeting of shareholders, NorthWestern hosted what it called a "community meeting," with some Butte city leaders among the people attending.

Rowe told them that NorthWestern had hoped for an annual meeting free of turbulence or surprises, what he called a "boring meeting." That is what the company got and "we're very thankful," he said.