1. Montana Ambassadors Helena, Montana February 25, 2011

2. Our Operations  Service territory includes Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming  661,000 customers  Electric »31,700 miles of transmission & distribution »297 communities  Natural Gas »8,400 miles of transmission and distribution »168 communities  Employees – 1,354 2

3. Montana Operations  Service territory includes western 2/3 of Montana (107,600 square miles)  Electric »21,400 miles of distribution »7,000 miles of transmission »Peak load -1,766 MW Average load – 1,216 MW  Natural Gas »4,100 miles of distribution »2,000 miles of transmission »Total delivered – 40 BCF Peak Daily – 335,000 dkt  Employees – 1,037 3

4. 4 Why Transmission Growth? Our transmission developments…

5. 5 Western States RPS Requirements 5

6. Opportunities - Potential Wind Distribution 6 6

7. 7 Montana is between resources & loads

8. 8 Purpose, Benefit, and Need  Meets NWE’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requirement to respond to new transmission service requests  Provides transmission for new generation development  Enables the development of high quality MT wind power to reach market  Provides and enables positive economic impact to Montana, Idaho and the region  Improves electric system performance and flexibility  Meets the needs of regional electrical demand Our transmission developments…

9. 9 NWE proposed transmission projects Collector System Colstrip Upgrade MSTI

10. 10 Mountain States Transmission Intertie (MSTI) Project  500 kV AC line from Townsend MT to Midpoint Substation near Twin Falls ID  Approximately 430 miles depending on final route  1130 miles of alternatives »80+% on State and Federal Public Lands  Advanced Stages of Public Siting and Review – began in 2007  1500 MW Path Rating Capacity Expected  Current Project cost is $1 billion 10

11. Montana Renewable Collector System  Currently 4,000 MW in generation interconnection queue  Radial lines to Townsend  Access to MSTI, 500 kV and NWE network  MT-RCS defined by this Open Season  Target in service date is 2016 New Townsend Substation High Wind Area Potential Collector Lines Confidential11

12. Colstrip Upgrade 12  The project is currently being developed primarily by BPA and NWE with the other owners having various levels of interest.  Initially identified in transmission study as being a piece of “low hanging fruit”  No new linear facilities required

13. Gas Operations 13

14. Gas Facts  Four major pipelines cross from Canada into Montana  Carway, Aden, Canadian Montana Pipeline and TransCanada (CMPL is owned by NWE)  Havre – Havre Pipeline and Chinook pipelines tie to Many Islands Pipeline  Morgan/Monchy – Northern Border cross Montana heading to the Mid-West »485 BCF per year of imports 14

15. Gas Facts  Carway and Aden come into NorthWestern’s transmission line, and the 15 BCF of imports equals about 38% of our 40 BCF annual market.  15 BCF at the average price of $3.90/mcf in 2010 would be $58.5 million  Montana produces about 95 BCF and consumes 76 BCF with most of the difference going into Canada or Northern Border. 15

16. Questions ???? 16