CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

INDIANA TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Police say that two people are dead after a gas well in a wooded area exploded.

The blast happened Friday at around 9:50 a.m. in the township about 15 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Police say the well is still actively burning.

VESTAL -- For the second time in four days, a small energy company from Denver found itself at the center of a controversial hearing in Broome County.

Nearly 60 people crammed into Vestal Town Hall for a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on whether the town should allow the construction of a natural gas metering station that would measure and depressurize gas before connecting with NYSEG pipelines. The station would require a special permit because it would be located along Owego Road near the Vestal Parkway, a residential area.

MegaEnergy, a Colorado-based oil and gas company, was named as the applicant on the permit, but it was the company's business partner that showed up at the hearing: Inflection Energy.

Inflection had offered Broome County a $16 million signing bonus and 20 percent royalties for drilling rights to 5,610 acres of county land, but County Executive Barbara J. Fiala rejected the deal Tuesday after the public spoke against the deal at a hearing the day before and several legislators withdrew their support.

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New York State Electric & Gas Corp. has cut the size of the rate increase it is seeking for its electric and natural gas customers to a fraction of its original proposal.

NYSEG’s latest proposal, reached in conjunction with the State Public Service Commission’s staff, would increase electric rates by an average of $3.27 a month, or about 5 percent, during the course of the three-year agreement.

Electric rates would rise by 2.2 percent in the first year, followed by a 1.2 percent increase in 2012 and a 1.5 percent hike in the final year of the proposal.

NYSEG provides service to about 175,000 customers in suburban and rural portions of Western New York. NYSEG’s natural gas customers, who are primarily in portions of Niagara, Orleans and Genesee counties in Western New York, would pay about $13.61 a month more—an increase of nearly 13 percent— by the end of 2013 under the latest proposal.

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- State auditors want an investigation into whether upstate New York customers of National Grid are paying an unfair share of the British utility's corporate costs in the Northeast region.

National Grid is proposing to boost electric rates in upstate New York by $369 million annually. The company says that would mean more revenue, but not higher bills for most customers as some debt due in 2011 would be refinanced and paid over four years.

The state Public Service Commission has not acted on last week's recommendation by its auditors for an investigation into National Grid's shared corporate services. The auditors said upstate New York customers were being assigned corporate costs that have nothing to do with utility operations locally.

Utility officials declined to respond to specific criticisms, saying they'll respond in written briefs.

The state Public Service Commission will hold a public hearing on proposed rate increases by New York State Electric & Gas Corp. from 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 2, at the Broome County Library in Binghamton.

The utility has proposed to increase delivery charges for electricity and natural gas by a total of $104.3 million over three years.

Electricity rates would go up by 1.3 percent this year and 2.3 percent in both 2011 and 2012. Natural gas rates would rise 2.1 percent this year and 2.2 percent in the following two years.

A similar public hearing on Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. proposed hikes is planned on Aug. 3 in Rochester.

The public can comment at the PSC website. Go to www.dps.state.ny.us and click on "Electric" and/or "Natural Gas."

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The New York State Public Service Commission has initiated a proceeding to determine what regulatory policies will best promote development of the smart grid. Commission Chairman Garry Brown says, “The smart grid and the modernization of the electric grid hold great potential for the state’s ratepayers. However, the Commission must be very thoughtful and deliberate before it decides whether to invest ratepayer money in the smart grid over the next decade. This proceeding will help us discover the opportunities and pitfalls that might exist.”

The Commission will solicit input from both the public and power industry for suggestions on shaping and building the smart grid. In addition to soliciting comments from traditional utilities, the Commission also wants to talk to telecommunication companies, computer software and hardware providers, internet developers, consumer advocates and other interested parties as it moves forward with developing its smart grid technology road map.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has funded and accelerated the modernization and technological enhancement of the smart grid, including several New York projects which all together received $256 million in stimulus money.

Chairman Brown says the smart grid promises “the deployment of new technologies that could help utilities become more efficient and help modernize the existing transmission and distribution grid. If done smartly, with a close eye toward future possibilities, this modernization will help utilities streamline and manage their operations while empowering consumers with a far-greater ability to control electricity consumption and costs. This would clearly be a win for all parties.”

When the proceedings are finished, the Commission’s findings may be obtained by going to the Documents section of the Commission’s Web site at www.dps.state.ny.us and entering case number 09-M-0074 or 10-E-0285.

BINGHAMTON -- In the highly polarizing debate about the natural gas rush in the Southern Tier, environmentalists and landowners don't agree on much.

On Monday, they were nearly unanimous in their opposition to a proposed lease deal between Broome County and a Denver energy company. Of 22 people who spoke at a public hearing on a $16 million land deal before the county legislature, 18 were against it.

Inflection Energy, a small company based in Denver, has offered the county $3,000 an acre over five years for the drilling rights to 5,610 acres of county-owned land. The county also would receive 20 percent royalty payments with minor deductions, and the company would pay for an "environmental monitor" who would report to the county and make sure proper regulations are being followed.

The deal includes an option, which could be exercised by the company, for an additional three years at another $3,000 an acre.

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New York State Electric and Gas Corp. and Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. have again reduced the size of the rate increases they are seeking.

The sister companies, both based in Rochester, had initially sought large increases in what they charge households and businesses for delivering electricity and natural gas.

They sharply reduced the requests after public comment sessions in late April and now have cut them again after negotiations with the staff of the state Public Service Commission.

In a document released Thursday, NYSEG revenue would go up by a three-year total of $104.3 million, down from the $369 million it had been seeking over that span.

RG&E proposes to raise revenue by a total of $71.7 million over three years, down from its most recent request of $50 million per year, or $150 million over three years.

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Busloads of activists - both for and against drilling for natural gas in Pennsylvania - converged on the Delaware River Basin Commission Wednesday to plead their cases.

Heckling and jeering characterized three hours of public comment, with so many people attending that the meeting was moved from commission headquarters in West Trenton to a nearby fire hall.

Even then, the crowd exceeded the room's 400-person capacity, and about 165 people had to wait outside.

Many had driven several hours from northeastern Pennsylvania, where contention about drilling for natural gas in the productive Marcellus Shale geologic formation has polarized residents.

While drilling is moving forward elsewhere - the state has issued nearly 1,500 Marcellus permits this year - the commission has effectively halted most drilling in the sprawling river basin by deciding that regulations specific to natural-gas activities must be developed first.

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Authorities in charge of the reliability of New York State's power supply warn a policy to protect aquatic life could threaten the dependability of electricity supplies and increase air pollution.

The New York Independent System Operator, which oversees the grid, and the New York State Public Service Commission are encouraging state regulators to proceed cautiously as they finalize new water-use guidelines for power plants. The proposed policy, first released by the state's environmental regulator in March, would phase out a practice by which plants continually draw water from rivers and bays for cooling. Instead, they would be required to have closed systems with cooling towers.

"A broad, hard look at potential impacts of policy implementation on system reliability and emissions should be taken," wrote the commission, which regulates utilities in New York.

So-called once-through cooling is a growing issue in the power industry. California is taking steps similar to New York, and federal regulators are expected to issue new, national rules late this year.

The New York Independent System Operator, or NYISO, warned in a recent filing to the Department of Environmental Conservation that the policy could force power plants to be shut while not leaving enough time for replacements to be built. It estimates the policy could affect more than half of the power plants in New York and potentially leave certain areas such as metro New York City short of power. The conflict over once-through cooling has been especially contentious as Entergy Corp. (ETR) seeks relicensing for its Indian Point nuclear power plant on the Hudson River that supplies roughly a quarter of the power for New York City.

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