Montana Power Company
Encyclopedia
The Montana Power Company (MPC) was an electric utility company based in Butte, Montana
which provided electricity to Montana consumers and industry from 1912 to 1997.
In the 1960s there was a split, culminating in Anaconda Co. resisting an MPC rate hike. In 1959 MPC bought coal mining rights at Colstrip Montana, with plans to develop coal-fired electrical generation plants there.
After developing four plants, MPC sold its Colstrip power plants in the fall of 1997 to Pennsylvania Power and Light
for $759 million. The remaining power operations were sold to Northwestern Energy
.
With the arrival of utilities deregulation in the 1990s, Montana Power restructured itself into a telecommunications company by 2001, Touch America Holdings, and began divesting its utility and energy holdings. The company built a 21000 miles (33,796.1 km) fiber optics network and incurred heavy losses during the dot-com
downturn in the early 2000s. Touch America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2003, selling its facilities to 360 Networks with plans to sell off remaining assets to defend against shareholder lawsuits. Litigation over the company's assets continues as of 2008.
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
which provided electricity to Montana consumers and industry from 1912 to 1997.
History
The Montana Power Company was founded in 1912 by John Ryan, then president of Anaconda Copper Mining Company, as a consolidation of several hydroelectric plants in Montana.In the 1960s there was a split, culminating in Anaconda Co. resisting an MPC rate hike. In 1959 MPC bought coal mining rights at Colstrip Montana, with plans to develop coal-fired electrical generation plants there.
After developing four plants, MPC sold its Colstrip power plants in the fall of 1997 to Pennsylvania Power and Light
PPL (utility)
PPL, formerly known as PP&L or Pennsylvania Power and Light, is an energy company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA. It currently controls about 19,000 megawatts of electrical generating capacity in the United States, primarily in Pennsylvania and Montana, and delivers electricity to...
for $759 million. The remaining power operations were sold to Northwestern Energy
Northwestern Energy
NorthWestern Corporation owns NorthWestern Energy, a utility company that serves South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana that is based in Sioux Falls...
.
With the arrival of utilities deregulation in the 1990s, Montana Power restructured itself into a telecommunications company by 2001, Touch America Holdings, and began divesting its utility and energy holdings. The company built a 21000 miles (33,796.1 km) fiber optics network and incurred heavy losses during the dot-com
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
downturn in the early 2000s. Touch America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2003, selling its facilities to 360 Networks with plans to sell off remaining assets to defend against shareholder lawsuits. Litigation over the company's assets continues as of 2008.
External links
- Missoulian Special Section: Montana Power Co. Generations of Power
- "A High Tech Company You Never Heard Of", column by Bill Mann, The Motley Fool (September 29, 1999)
- "How Big Sky Went Dark", op-ed by Deirdre McNamer, The New York Times (April 6, 2008).
- Guide to the Montana Power Company Papers at the University of Montana This collection consists of blueprints, drawings and maps and bound volumes of financial records from the Missoula steam plant.