Missoula Electric Coop, Inc electricity rates

It is a smaller system, serving 14,686 residential customers, which means its fixed costs are spread across a narrow base. At 10.50¢ per kilowatt-hour it is one of the cheaper places to buy electricity in Montana, 28.4% under the statewide average of 14.67¢.

Its customers use more electricity than the national norm, 1,076 kilowatt-hours a month against 871, which amplifies whatever the rate does.

Owned by the customers it serves, with directors elected by members. Co-ops are frequently outside state rate regulation. That matters because a bill is not only the cost of generating electricity: it also carries the cost of the network, and who owns that network changes how it is paid for.

In 2024 the average Missoula Electric Coop, Inc customer went 1,606 minutes without electricity across 3.59 interruptions. The median across the 941 utilities that report this is 185 minutes.

That is far worse than typical, and figures at this level almost always reflect a major storm season rather than everyday performance. A single hurricane or ice storm can dominate the annual number.

Missoula Electric Coop, Inc offers time-of-use pricing to residential customers. 14,685 households were enrolled, about 100% of its residential base.

These plans are opt-in almost everywhere. They reward households that can move laundry, dishwashing, water heating or electric vehicle charging out of the late-afternoon peak, and they cost more than the standard rate for households that cannot. How to tell which group you are in.

154 residential customers had net-metered solar in 2024, totalling 1.22 megawatts. That works out to 10.5 installations per thousand customers, against a median of 8 across the utilities reporting it.

Adoption is above the national median, which generally tracks the retail rate more closely than it tracks sunshine. What exports are actually worth.