Molnar wins seat to represent south-central Montana on the Public Service Commission

Republican Brad Molnar won the race to represent south-central Montana on the Public Service Commission , according to preliminary election results released early Wednesday morning by the Montana Secretary of State's Office.

Molnar, state senator from Laurel, received 35,116 votes for a four-year term on the PSC serving District 2, versus 19,383 votes cast for his opponent, Democrat Susan Bilo, an energy technologies instructor at MSU's Gallatin College in Bozeman.

That's 64% support for Molnar compared to 36% for Bilo, with 11% of the votes counted by 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Molnar, 74, previously served in the Montana House from 1993 to 2001 and on the PSC from 2005 to 2013.

Bilo, 62, is a former energy specialist for the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Tony O'Donnell currently represents District 2 on the PSC.

The position pays $115,880 a year.

District 2 stretches across southern Montana from Bozeman to Custer and includes parts of Gallatin, Park, Carbon, Stillwater, Sweetgrass, Big Horn, Rosebud and Yellowstone counties.

Commissioners are tasked with balancing the consumer's right to reliable, reasonably-priced services with a monopoly utility's right to make a fair return on investment.

Anyone who buys electric or gas service from a company that isn't a cooperative, pays rates approved by the PSC.

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