Montana Electricity Buying Cooperative

HB 474 requires regulated electric utilities in Montana to offer their customers an opportunity to purchase "a separately marketed product composed of power from renewable resources," defined as biomass, wind, solar, or geothermal resources. The Montana Electric Buying Cooperative (MEBC) was established to supply Clean Power to residential and small business electricity customers of the former Montana Power Company (now NorthWestern Energy). Members of the Coop purchase Green Tags from MBEC. The Green Tags are bought from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and represent the market value of the environmental benefit that comes from Clean Power generation. The money from the sale of Green Tags goes towards renewable energy projects in Montana. Once renewable energy installations come on-line in Montana, power will be purchased from those installations from NorthWestern Energy.