The story
The company traces its roots to 1883 and the organization of the Black Hills Electric Light Company of Deadwood. Merged with the Belt Light and Power Company of Lead in 1905, the company became Consolidated Power and Light Company of South Dakota. Meanwhile, to the south, the Dakota Power Company began serving Rapid City in 1910. Both of these companies were purchased by holding companies in the 1920s. With Roosevelt-era legislation to break up big national utility holding companies, Black Hills Power & Light Company was formed in 1941 by combining the assets of General Public Utilities, Inc. and Dakota Power Company which provided power for most of western South Dakota.
In 1956, the company completed its acquisition of the Wyodak Coal Company (now Wyodak Resources Development Corporation), from the Homestake Mining Company, setting the stage for the company's significant investments in mining, oil and gas.
In July 2002, Black Hills Corporation announced that a settlement was reached with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) relating to its marketing subsidiary, Enserco Energy, Inc. Based in Golden, Colorado, Enserco engages in natural gas marketing on the wholesale market and on behalf of independent producers. On November 25, 2002, Black Hills Corporation announced that its new independent public accountants, Deloitte & Touche LLP, had completed the audit of Black Hills Corporation's 2001, 2000 and 1999 financial statements that were originally audited by Arthur Andersen LLP.
In 2004, Black Hills acquired Cheyenne Light from Xcel Energy. Cheyenne Light continues to operate as a separate subsidiary.
In 2007, it announced an agreement to buy the natural gas utility in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa and its Colorado electric utility from Aquila, Inc. Completed in July 2008, the deal increased the company's customer base from 137,000 to 753,000 and increased its employee base from 916 to 2,000.
In July 2015, Black Hills announced it was purchasing SourceGas for $1.89 billion. The deal covers approximately 425,000 customers in Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming and a 512-mile regulated intrastate natural gas transmission pipeline in Colorado.
In late 2016, Black Hills announced plans to invest $700 million to build a 1 million square foot drilling and pipe production plant in Norfolk, Nebraska. The facility was expected to employ 400 people. Black Hills said it would use 500,000 tons of steel per year from Nucor Steel.
In March 2018, Black Hills received, and turned down, an unsolicited $1.1 billion purchase offer from the San Isabel Electric Association in Colorado; it responded to the offer with a full-page newspaper ad in the Pueblo Chieftain.
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In August 2025, Black Hills and NorthWestern Energy agreed to a merger in an all-stock deal valuing the combined entity at $15.4 billion. On completion, Black Hills shareholders will own about 54% of the combined company and will be run by NorthWestern's CEO, Brian Bird.
From Wikipedia’s article on Black Hills Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.6