One energy company with operations in Montana is disputing another energy company's claim that it should be allowed to be the exclusive supplier of huge amounts of power to data center companies planning to start operations here.

NorthWestern Energy wants permission from the Montana Public Service Commission to be the only company to serve "large-load customers," meaning data centers that are proposing to consume huge amounts of power in Montana.

NorthWestern Energy is proposing to do that using new shares of ownership in the coal-fired Colstrip Generating Station power plant that it is acquiring in 2026.

NorthWestern's vice president and chief financial officer Crystal Lail told the PSC earlier this year that "these new customers will become electric supply customers of NorthWestern

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