Montana Power Company Information

The Montana Power Foundation, formed in 1985 to grant charitable gifts in education, health and human services, culture and the arts, civic and community activities and conservation and the environment, contributed a total of $643,141 in 1998.Western Energy's Rosebud Mine and Northwestern Resources' Jewett Mine together have Montana Power ranked fifth in the federal government's national "Safe List" for surface coal mines.More than 16,000 people attended the 1999 Montana Power Summer Symphony in Helena, Montana - almost three times the audience at the Inaugural Montana Power Summer Symphony in 1998.Economic Value Added (EVA), a program which measures performance and reinforces business strategies, was adopted by The Montana Power Company in 1997.The Montana Power Company helped the state of Colorado acquire the largest state-acquisition of a wildlife habitat in its history.The Rosebud Mine, owned by Montana Power's subsidiary Western Energy, received a national reclamation award from the Office of Surface Mining in 1998.Touch America launched two of its new wireless, high-speed local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) networks in Butte and Billings, Montana, in late 1999. Touch America plans to add 23 more LMDS networks in cities across the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountain, and Upper Midwest areas.Over a five year period, January 1994 through December 1998, Montana Power's stock appreciation produced a total return of 200 percent - more than any other investor-owned electric utility in that same period.Total shareholder return for 1999 was 30%.Contributions from The Montana Power Company helped to assure the success of the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls, Montana. The Center, which honors the Lewis and Clark expedition, has become Montana's third most popular tourist attraction.Touch America, in a joint venture with New Century Energies - the holding company for Public Service Co. of Colorado - will provide the latest in advanced high-speed data and voice communications services to the Denver metropolitan area.Western Energy's Rosebud Mine mined its 300 millionth ton of coal in September of 1999. It is the first mine in Montana to accomplish this level of production and one of the few mines in the nation to meet this milestone.In 1998, The Montana Power Company began investment in an Enterprise Resources Planning System (ERP), the largest scale business change and information technology project Montana Power has ever undertaken.