HELENA (LEE) -- On a bipartisan vote, the Montana House on Wednesday endorsed a bill undoing part of Montana's 10-year-old utility deregulation bill, making it easier for NorthWestern Energy to own electric power plants and obligate ratepayers for the cost.

House Bill 25 won't lower anyone's electric rates in the near future, said its sponsor, Rep. Alan Olson, R-Roundup.

But it will bring an end to the 1997 experiment of utility deregulation and give NorthWestern a chance to build or own power plants that can bring stable, affordable rates for Montanans in the future, he said.

"I'll be up-front and honest -- this is not going to bring you cheap power," Olson said. "But what about your kids? What about your grandkids?"

The House voted 69-31 for the bill, with 34 Democrats, 34 Republicans and one Constitution Party member in favor. It faces a final House vote before going to the Senate.

Opponents of the measure said while HB25 is advertised as a consumer-friendly bill, it may not be.

Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, said the problem with HB25 is that it allows state regulators to give pre-approval for construction or purchase of a power plant by NorthWestern.

Pre-approval shifts the risk of the plant to ratepayers, because they'd be on the hook for the costs of the plant regardless of whether it ends up too costly or unnecessary, she said.

"A good bill would not put ratepayers on the hook," she said. "The bill puts ratepayers on the hook."

Caferro said utilities in other states are building power plants without pre-approval, and she questioned why NorthWestern needs this special benefit.

A similar bill is before the state Senate and does not include the pre-approval language of HB25.

The 1997 deregulation bill was supposed to usher in consumer choice for NorthWestern's 300,000-plus electric customers in Montana, allowing them to select different electricity suppliers.

But for the average customer, competition never materialized. After NorthWestern's predecessor, Montana Power Co., sold off its power plants to PPL Montana in 1999, its customers have had to buy power from PPL at higher market rates.

HB25 repeals the "customer choice" language of the 1997 law and says electric customers with NorthWestern now will stay with NorthWestern. It also would allow NorthWestern to become more like its pre-1997 self, owning power plants and selling that power to customers for a price based on the cost of the plant.

Yet even if a bill like HB25 passes the Legislature and becomes law, NorthWestern still would have to buy power on the market for its customers. But the company also could build or buy its own plant to produce power for customers.

Under HB25, NorthWestern would have to bring any proposed plant before the state Public Service Commission, which would have up to a year to examine the proposal and approve it, at a certain price for ratepayers.

Critics of the pre-approval process say NorthWestern or any other utility that wants to build a plant can choose to do so, but should take the risk of whether it will be necessary for consumers when it's completed -- and get PSC approval at that time.

Rep. Michael Lange, R-Billings, said NorthWestern electric customers basically are buying from an unregulated monopoly -- PPL Montana -- and that HB25 makes it possible to help break that monopoly.

Yet Rep. Dave Gallik, D-Helena, said PPL Montana has the ability to undercut almost any electricity price in the market, and that a new plant won't be able to beat that price. He questioned why lawmakers would pass a bill that makes it easier for someone to provide higher-priced power.