It remains to be seen whether an Australian company's new offer to buy NorthWestern Energy is good enough to sway the Montana Public Service Commission, but one thing is clear: the PSC's unanimous rejection of the earlier deal has potentially paid off for ratepayers.

By putting some real money where only its mouth was last year, Babcock & Brown Infrastructure has shown not only how badly its wants to move into Montana, but that it has figured out it will take more than lofty promises to get here.

Mike Garland, head of North American infrastructure for BBI, put it bluntly: the problem with the first offer, he said, was that "we blew it."

The new proposal, announced Monday, would give customers more protection and the utility greater stability.

BBI says it would pump at least $380 million into NorthWestern, spend up to $200 million to produce electricity at regulated rates, reduce the utility's debt service and give ratepayers a one-time credit of $20 million. The company will commit to owning the utility for at least a decade, and will put a local chief executive and a board of directors from Montana in full control as a stand-alone company.

Some of these ideas were presented earlier as BBI's intentions or goals, but PSC members, Democrats and Republicans alike weren't impressed by promises.

Now, as the PSC eyeballs the latest proposal, we think Montana ratepayers can be confident their interests are in good hands. The Public Service Commission has demonstrated that it's no push-over.