BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- North Dakota customers of two utilities will be paying higher electric bills for three years for a power plant that will never be built.
State regulators say Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. and Otter Tail Power Co. may charge their customers for development costs for the Big Stone II power plant. The project was abandoned last year.
For a typical residential customer, the MDU bill will go up by $1.49 a month. Bills for Otter Tail customers will go up by about 62 cents a month.
North Dakota Public Service Commission Chairman Kevin Cramer says the commission is meeting Friday to approve the agreements.
Cramer says he doesn't like asking ratepayers to pay for a failed project, but he says the law is in the utilities' favor.
