Repke Says Consumers Getting Short Shrift Under Current PSC

As voters prepare to decide who will fill the open seat on the Montana Public Service Commission’s (PSC) District 5, which includes Flathead County, they’re receiving a crash course in how the inner workings of the state’s oversight commission can affect their pocketbooks.

The PSC recently approved an interim rate increase for NorthWestern Energy’s residential customers, amounting to a 12.6% increase to an average consumer’s electric bill for homes consuming 750 kilowatt hours, or $11.19 per month and $133.44 annually. Base rates for natural gas will climb $0.48 per month, or $5.76 annually. The word “interim” means the rate increases are temporary, intended to prop up the utility while it lobbies for an even higher increase, which it predicted in its rate review would total $273.12 a year for electricity sold to average residential consumers and $90.84 for natural gas.

According to John Repke, a retired financial officer from Whitefish running for the position as a Democrat, “beyond the sheer size of the increase, along with the short notice, other aspects of the Commission’s decision are also concerning.”

For example, in its Interim Order, Repke said the PSC described the rate increases as “a reasonable means of providing interim relief to NorthWestern.” However, he noted that in 2021 NorthWestern reported a net income of $187 million, which is $30 million more than it reported in 2020. Moreover, he said the 2021 compensation for its top executives was a combined $9 million.

“These numbers do not strike me as consistent with a company needing relief,” Repke said. “NorthWestern is investor-owned. If its investors gain when the company does well, then they also need to share the risk when the company trips up, even if that means just buying some time.”

“None of this will change until Montanans elect commissioners who have the skills for the job and the will to challenge utilities on behalf of ratepayers,” he added. “That’s why I’m running. If elected PSC Commissioner, I will bring my 40 years of business experience and expertise to proactively represent you and make our system of utility regulation work the way it should. Montanans deserve better than what we are getting.”

The open seat on PSC’s District 5 is being vacated by outgoing Republican Commissioner Brad Johnson, of East Helena, who cannot run again due to term limits. It encompasses Flathead, Lake, Glacier, Lewis and Clark, Teton, and Pondera counties.

In his bid to win the seat, Repke faces Annie Bukacek, a Kalispell physician who served on the Flathead City-County Board of Health but resigned that position after announcing her candidacy, ostensibly to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

Bukacek joined the local health board in early 2020 and is best known for her criticism of the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as an anti-vaccine activist and for helping to organize protests of public health mitigations crafted to slow the spread of the virus. 

Despite repeated attempts to contact her in the month prior to the publication of this article, Bukacek did not respond to emails or phone calls. In the run up to the June primary, which included a four-way Republican contest that Bukacek won, she wrote in an email that her interest in running for the PSC is the culmination of the experience gained as a business owner, doctor and “advocate for citizens’ needs.” 

However, Bukacek’s colleagues and peers that served alongside her on the health board describe her as an obstructionist and her tenure on the board caused a string of controversies.

“As a member of the Flathead County Health Board, Ann Bukacek showed up unprepared, insisted on her own views, and actively proselyted outside the boundaries of Board meetings,” according to a joint letter from Bill Burg, the former chair of the health board, and now-retired Flathead County Health Officer Joe Russell, both Republicans who have endorsed Repke. “For this and her consistent failure to vote on matters before the Board, she was rebuked by the Deputy County Attorney. She preached and did not listen. She opposed testimony of medical experts and substituted her own views. She organized protests against sound public health policy, then lied about her participation. We expect the same behavior if she is elected to the Public Service Commission.”

Repke, who most recently worked as chief financial officer for the local wood products manufacturer SmartLam, also said he’d like to see a shift away from the politics and scandal that have come to characterized Montana’s beleaguered PSC, noting that most states’ public utilities commissions require appointments and requisite levels of experience in finance, accounting and setting rates — qualifications that could help Montana’s commission vet candidates who don’t pass muster.

“As a commissioner, I would work to protect the ratepayers, I would be fully transparent, and I would just be independent relative to the other commissioners, and therefore I would hold them to a higher standard,” Repke said.