NorthWestern Energy

For more than 80 years, NorthWestern has provided reliable, competitively priced electricity and natural gas service.

Founded in 1923 as NorthWestern Public Service, the incorporation of the company brought together two utility properties in Nebraska and two in South Dakota. Backing the new company were members of the Albert Emanuel Company of New York City, an early utility holding company.

Along with its Midwest holdings, the Emanuel Company owned operating utilities in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The formation of NorthWestern Public Service was the Emanuel family’s first major acquisition outside of the lower Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic States; hence the name of “NorthWestern” Public Service to designate the new consolidated utility.

In the late 1920s, Samuel Insull’s Middle West Utilities Company, later named Northwest Utilities, acquired NorthWestern Public Service. Middle West Utilities owned utility operating companies serving the eastern two-thirds of the nation. The stock market crash of the 1930s contributed to Samuel Insull’s bankruptcy and the eventual breakup of his utility holdings, paving the way for NorthWestern as an independent company. Over the years, NorthWestern acquired or built electric and natural gas operations to serve residential, commercial and  rural customers in more than 100 South Dakota and Nebraska communities.

In May 1998, NorthWestern Public Service became NorthWestern Corporation, and in Feb. 15, 2002, NorthWestern acquired the energy distribution and transmission business of the former Montana Power Company to form NorthWestern Energy.

Today, NorthWestern Energy is a leading energy delivery company in the region and provides opportunities to better connect with customers and markets in new ways, enhancing overall service and support capabilities.