Several Missoula businesses have fallen prey to an ongoing scam in which they are convinced their power will be shut off if they don't pay their bill immediately.
On Friday, the Montana Public Service Commission completed two weeks of hearings on whether the sale of 11 hydroelectric dams to Northwestern Energy is in the public's best interest.
UPDATE 2:00 P.M. Tuesday, January 14
Crews from Northwestern Energy quickly repaired a two-inch gas line that had been ruptured by a crew doing excavation work in a field just off the Eastside Highway in Florence.
According to a report filed by Northwestern Energy, of the thousands of power outages in Montana last year, a substantial amount were caused by woodland creatures.
New contracts recently signed by Northwestern Energy will bring lower electricity rates to Montana consumers, perhaps in the next few months, a company official said on Friday.
On Sunday afternoon, the heavy load of electricity usage in the Miller Creek and Southside areas of Missoula led to what is called a 'brownout' at the Miller Creek Road substation.