Black Hills Energy Merger With Northwestern Energy Announced

Officials with Black Hills Energy and Northwestern Energy on Tuesday announced plans for a merger..

The merger will need regulatory approval before being finalized. That process is expected to take 12-15 months. According to information presented at a Tuesday morning news conference, no rate increases are expected.

The name of the combined company will be announced once the merger is finalized.

"Rates Will Stay The Same"

''Rates will stay the same as they are today in terms of this transaction" said Black Hills Corp. President and CEO Linn Evans. 'It's going to take 12-15 months for this transaction to be approved...meanwhile we will operate just like we always have, normal activity for each individual company."

He went on to say that "while I don't necessarily think rates will go down...but because of optimization of our processes, optimization of our business model, we believe that customers can see lower rates than they otherwise would have."

Northwestern Energy is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and serves customers in South Dakota, Montana and Nebraska. The combined company, assuming the merger goes through, will be headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota.

According to a new release, the combined company will have a pro forma market capitalization of approximately $7.8 billion and a combined enterprise value of $15.4 billion, based on each company’s closing stock price as of August 18, 2025."

The merged company will serve 2.1 million customers across the states of Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

You can hear a news conference on the merger in the attached audio file.