Defined Benefit (Pension) · DOL Form 5500 · 2023

Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan

Data updated 2026-05-15

$350M
Total assets
387
Participants
97th
Percentile by assets
$904,895
Avg per participant

Sponsored by Northwestern Corporation · Montana · Utilities

What the 2023 filing shows

Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan holds $350M for 387 participants - about $904,895 per participant, in the top 5% of all filed plans by assets, down 11.4% over the 2023 plan year.

$350M
total plan assets (2023 EOY)
387
covered participants
97th
percentile by assets (of 126,618 plans)
$904,895
avg assets per participant

The plan reported a net loss of $46M for the year, a single-year figure driven by markets and benefit payments, not a measure of plan health.

State
Industry
Utilities

Defined Benefit (Pension) · DOL Form 5500 · 2023

What the Filing Says About Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan

Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan is a Defined Benefit (Pension) retirement plan sponsored by Northwestern Corporation, headquartered in Montana. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's 2023 Form 5500 filing, the plan reports $350M in total end-of-year assets and covers 387 participants across the Utilities industry. The sponsor's EIN on file with the U.S. Department of Labor is 460172280, and the plan has been effective since 1948-06-01. Its filing status is currently FILING RECEIVED.

Year over year, total assets pulled back noticeably from $395M at the beginning of 2023 to $350M at year-end - down 11.4%. Net assets (after liabilities) closed the year at $349M, with reported net income of -$46M driven by investment returns, contributions received, and benefit payments during the period. These figures reflect what the plan administrator certified on Schedule H or Schedule I of the Form 5500 annual return and can be compared against 2 prior plan-year filings from the same sponsor shown below.

Across the 3 plan years Northwestern Corporation has on file with PlainRetire (2022-2024), sponsor-wide plan assets have moved from $855M to $911M, a gain of 6.6%, while reported participants moved from 2,084 to 2,037 (-2.3%). The strongest year on file by total sponsor assets was 2024 at $911M; the softest was 2022 at $855M. Year-by-year, sponsor-wide filings show: 2022 - $855M in assets across 3 plans covering 2,084 participants; 2023 - $869M in assets across 3 plans covering 2,047 participants; 2024 - $911M in assets across 3 plans covering 2,037 participants.

By assets, Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan outranks 97% of the 126,618 plans that filed a Form 5500 for the 2023 plan year, and holds roughly 3.5x the national average plan size of $100M and 730 average participants.

Asset totals and participant counts reflect a single plan year snapshot and can change materially with market conditions, plan mergers, or workforce changes. Fields such as "net income" include both realized investment performance and contribution/distribution flows, a single-year figure does not by itself indicate plan health or participant outcomes. This page summarizes public DOL disclosures for research and educational purposes only and is not retirement, tax, legal, or financial advice. Before making decisions about your own retirement benefits or evaluating an employer's plan, verify the underlying filing directly via the DOL EFAST2 system and consult a qualified professional.

How the percentile is calculated: we count every plan that filed a 2023 Form 5500 with a reported end-of-year asset figure (126,618 plans), rank Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan against all of them by total assets, and report the share of those plans it outranks. A plan reporting no asset figure for the year is excluded from the ranking rather than assumed to be zero.

Financial Summary (2023)

Total Assets (Beginning of Year)$395M
Total Assets (End of Year)$350M
Net Assets (End of Year)$349M
Net Income-$46M
Plan TypeDefined Benefit (Pension)
Employer EIN460172280
Plan Effective Date1948-06-01
Filing StatusFILING RECEIVED

Sponsor Plan History (Northwestern Corporation)

Year Plans Participants Total Assets
2022 3 2,084 $855M
2023 3 2,047 $869M
2024 3 2,037 $911M

Nearby Defined Benefit (Pension) Plans in Montana

Peer Defined Benefit (Pension) plans, same state, same plan type, ranked by total assets.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much money is in the Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan?
As of the 2023 Form 5500 filing, Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan holds $350M in total assets with 387 participants. It is sponsored by Northwestern Corporation.
What type of plan is Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan?
Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan is a Defined Benefit (Pension) plan. It has been effective since 1948-06-01. The plan is filed with the U.S. Department of Labor under EIN 460172280.
Who sponsors the Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan?
Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan is sponsored by Northwestern Corporation, located in Montana. The sponsor's EIN is 460172280 and the plan operates in the Utilities industry.
How did Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan perform in 2023?
Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan pulled back noticeably - down 11.4% during 2023, moving from $395M to $350M in total assets. Net income was -$46M.

What this filing means

Ways to act on Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan's numbers.

  • By total assets, Northwestern Energy Mt Pension Plan ranks in the top 5% of all filed plans by assets. See the largest plans
  • Compare it side-by-side against 3 similar Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in Montana. Compare plans
  • Northwestern Corporation's sponsor-wide assets have grown 6.6% since 2022 across 3 plan years on file. More Utilities plans
  • A Defined Benefit (Pension) plan works differently from other retirement plan types, understand the structural differences before comparing. Compare plan types

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Form 5500 public disclosure dataset. Plan year 2023.

Source: DOL EFAST2 filing system (efast.dol.gov) - original filing retrieval by EIN 460172280.

Reference: IRS Publication 560, Retirement Plans for Small Business, contribution-limit rules.

Reference: IRS Publication 590-B, Distributions from IRAs, RMD rules under SECURE Act 2.0.

Data sourced from U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings (EBSA). See our methodology for details.

Every figure on PlainRetire is rendered directly from the Department of Labor's Form 5500 annual return filings, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-05-15.