MDU Resources Group, Inc. is a U.S.-based corporation supplying essential products and services through its regulated energy delivery and construction materials and services businesses. It is headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota, and operates in 48 states. Its electric and natural gas utility companies serve approximately 1.1 million customers. Cascade Natural Gas Company distributes natural gas in Oregon and Washington. Great Plains Natural Gas Co. distributes natural gas in western Minnesota and southeastern North Dakota. Intermountain Gas Company distributes natural gas in southern Idaho. Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. generates, transmits and distributes electricity and distributes natural gas in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Its pipeline and midstream business, WBI Energy, provides natural gas transportation, underground storage and gathering services through regulated and non regulated pipeline systems primarily in the Rocky Mountain and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. This segment also provides cathodic protection and other energy-related services. Its construction materials business, Knife River Corporation, mines aggregates and markets crushed stone, sand, gravel and related construction materials, including ready-mix concrete, cement, asphalt, liquid asphalt and other value-added products. It also performs integrated contracting services. Its construction services business, MDU Construction Services Group, specializes in constructing and maintaining electric and communication lines, gas pipelines, fire suppression systems, and external lighting and traffic signalization. It also provides utility excavation and inside electrical and mechanical services, and manufactures and distributes transmission line construction equipment and supplies.
Background
MDU Resources got its start in 1924 as the Minnesota Northern Power Company. Its founder, Rolland Heskett, had previously been involved with utilities in Wisconsin and northeast Minnesota. The Minnesota Northern Power holdings initially consisted of the electric utility at Cushing, Oklahoma, Minnesota Electric Light & Power Company, which served the Bemidji, Minnesota area, the Eastern Montana Light & Power Company, which was centered around Sidney and Glendive, Montana, and the Eastern Montana Utilities Co., which was based in Fairview, Montana. The two 'Eastern Montana' utilities became the nucleus of Montana-Dakota Utilities' operations. Initially, Minnesota Northern was only in the business of selling electric power, but entered the natural gas business following its discovery of oil in 1936 in the Williston Basin in Eastern Montana. As Minnesota Northern expanded across Eastern Montana and western North Dakota, it acquired the electric franchise for Miles City, Montana, after an acquisition struggle with the Montana Power Company. Shortly after passage of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, Heskett reorganized all the gas and electric subsidiaries of Minnesota Northern Power under a new name — Montana-Dakota Utilities. In 1945, the company acquired Knife River Coal Mining Co., a Beulah, North Dakota-based operation that had been mining coal since 1917. Unlike its neighboring utilities, MDU was generally not in the business of reselling energy at wholesale to other companies, with the exception of five Eastern Montana towns then served by the Mountain States Power Company. The distribution systems in these towns passed into MDU ownership by the early 1940s. The company's common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MDU in 1948. The company was originally based in Minneapolis, but by the 1960s it was decided that the company's headquarters should be located within its service territory. Bismarck was the natural choice as it was the largest town on the system, and the relocation was completed in 1968. In 1985, the corporation realigned its operations under the name MDU Resources Group, Inc., to better reflect the growing diversity of its operations. In 1992, MDU Resources acquired its first aggregates-mining company in central California and has continued to expand its construction materials footprint through the years. Knife River Corporation is now recognized among the largest sand and gravel producing companies in the U.S. In 2001, Knife River sold its remaining coal-mining interests. In 1997, MDU Resources started its utility services division, which over the years has expanded its construction services offerings and become the MDU Construction Services Group segment.
Acquisition and lawsuit
The largest addition of electric utility territory came in 1945, when MDU purchased the Dakota Public Service Company from NorthWestern Public Service Company of Huron, South Dakota. DPSC served a total of 91 towns in west-central North Dakota originally served by the Hughes Electric Company/North Dakota Power & Light Company and south-central North Dakota/north-central South Dakota originally served by the Northern Power & Light Company. When MDU examined DPSC's books after the purchase, they spent the next six years in litigation with NWPS over allegations of improper internal charges between NWPS, NP&L, and NDP&L. Both companies eventually realized the lawsuit was unproductive and they ceased litigation. After the end of the lawsuit, MDU refocused on the growing demand for electricity and gas within its newly expanded territory and the necessary system improvements. In the late 1960s, MDU partnered with NWPS and Otter Tail Power in the construction of the Big Stone power plant near Big Stone City, South Dakota. The companies have since partnered on two base-load power plants.
Subsidiaries
Cascade Natural Gas Corporation, serving parts of Oregon and Washington, was acquired by MDU Resources in 2006. Intermountain Gas Company, serving parts of Idaho, was acquired by MDU Resources in 2008. Knife River Corporation provides construction materials and contracting services, including aggregate, asphalt, building materials, cement, construction services, liquid asphalt, and ready-mix concrete in 17 states.
