Montana-Dakota Utilities, sisters plan cuts

Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. and three sister utilities plan to consolidate five call centers into two, sell an office building in Seattle, do away with customer walk-in traffic and cut about 130 jobs in eight states over the next nine months.

The changes were announced on Tuesday by Dave Goodin, the president and chief executive officer of Montana-Dakota Utilities, Great Plains Natural Gas Co., Cascade Natural Gas Corp., and Intermountain Gas Co.

The utility companies, owned by MDU Resources Group, Inc., have a base of 930,000 customers in eight states, and about 1,650 employees, MDU spokesman Mark Hanson said.

Bismarck-based MDU Resources Group purchased Intermountain Gas last year in a deal worth $328 million. The Idaho utility supplies natural gas to some 300,000 customers in about 75 communities in the state.

MDU bought Cascade Natural Gas in 2007, and Great Plains Natural Gas in 2000. Cascade, serves 246,000 customers in Washington and Oregon. Great Plains distributes natural gas to about 22,000 customers in 19 communities in western Minnesota and southeastern North Dakota.

Montana-Dakota Utilities, based in Bismarck, serves about 360,000 customers in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

Hanson said a review of the four companies' operations found they could learn from each other and be more efficient.

"We're finding best practices from each other," Hanson said. "But the final factor is the economy - it is playing a role."

The utility group's "integration plan," including the 130 layoffs, "will touch all four companies across eight states in all kinds of areas," Hanson said.

The utilities also plan to eliminate customer walk-in traffic over the next four months at all offices for Montana-Dakota, Great Plains and Intermountain, he said.

"We will be communicating with customers on their bills, on their options," he said.

The utility group now has call centers in Bismarck; Boise, Idaho; Soda Springs, Idaho; Bellingham, Wash., and Sunnyside, Wash. Hanson said the consolidation will put the main call center in Boise, because it's centrally located and is in the Mountain time zone where the bulk of the customers are.

He said a second call center will be in Bismarck, and the other three centers will close over the next two years.

The utility group says it will sell the Cascade office building in Seattle and relocate the Cascade general office to a community within its service territory.

"We don't have customers in Seattle," Hanson said, citing the reason for the move, which could take several months.

"We don't have the current building sold and we don't have a new site selected yet," he said.

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On the Net:

MDU Resources Group Inc., http://www.mdu.com/