CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

ALBANY — In the course of a year or so, the state will take more than $750 million from the New York Power Authority to help the Paterson administration balance the state’s deficit-ridden general fund.

Power Authority officials say the lost money will not affect operations and that they are happy to help the state during these troubled times.

But critics say the move comes at a terrible time, given the condition of the economy. The authority, the nation’s largest state-owned power company, could have used some of the money to lower electricity rates, especially for struggling upstate companies that have decried the cost of power in New York as a competition killer, these critics say.

“Essentially, they’re using surplus NYPA funds from selling our hydropower on the open market to fund pork-barrel spending in Albany. It’s outrageous,” said Assemblyman James Hayes, R-Amherst, the ranking Republican on the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. He voted against last week’s deficit-reduction package.

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