CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

Another showdown appears to be brewing between the state Department of Public Service and Energy East Corp.

An attorney for the department believes Energy East, parent of New York State Electric & Gas and Rochester Gas and Electric, is doing OK despite the recession and credit crunch.

But officials from NYSEG and RG&E apparently feel otherwise.

According to letters from the department and its general counsel, Peter McGowan, NYSEG and RG&E wanted an unspecified and temporary rate increase at the end of 2008. The utilities also plan to cut their capital spending plans by 50 percent.

In letters from McGowan, obtained by the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper in Rochester through a Freedom of Information Law request, it is clear that the 2008 battle over the $4.6 billion purchase of Energy East by Iberdrola SA of Spain won't be the last.

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Letters to the New York Department of Public Service indicate that Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. and sister company New York State Electric and Gas Corp. are weighing temporary rate hikes and cuts in capital spending.

That has the department’s general counsel questioning why parent company Energy East Corp. is down in the mouth about its earnings in 2009.

In letters sent to attorney David L. Schwartz, who represents NYSEG and RG&E, the department said a temporary rate hike in the time frame requested was unlikely given New York’s regulatory requirements. The request appears to have been aimed at getting approval by the end of 2008.

“In light of this procedural framework and considering the limited information you provided to us, it seems highly unlikely that the commission would be able to act on a request by NYSEG or RG&E for a temporary rate increase within the end-of-the-year time frame you outlined in our meeting,” wrote Peter McGowan, general counsel for the DPS.

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In his first annual address to legislators last week, Gov. David A. Paterson said, “The state of our state is perilous.” Yet his energy platform promises to visit more peril upon the Empire State.

The centerpiece is Paterson’s “45 by 15” plan for New York “to meet 45 percent of its electricity needs through improved energy efficiency and clean renewable energy” by 2015. The idea is to decrease overall electricity usage 15 percent in six years through efficiency measures.

Meanwhile, policymakers would increase the state’s “renewable portfolio standard” — the amount of the state’s power that would come from renewable energy sources — to 30 percent from the previous target of 25 percent.

Neither is likely to happen, but we are guaranteed to spend a lot of money learning some hard lessons. The state economy is already fairly energy efficient, partly because high prices have driven heavy manufacturing out of state. So the likelihood of finding substantial gains there is slim. The only realistic hope for reducing energy consumption is not efficiency, but a lengthy economic downturn, which nobody wants.

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Iberdrola has submitted a divestiture plan to the New York Public Service Commission for approval to sell five assets as part of its EUR6.091 billion ($8.49 billion) acquisition of Energy East.

The company is seeking approval to sell:

* 275 MW coal-fired Russell Station in Greece, N.Y., that permanently ...

Upstate NY Power Corp. will soon apply for a state certificate for a greatly revised transmission line to connect the proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm to the state grid.

Upstate NY Power ran a public notice in the Watertown Daily Times on Monday, a required step before submitting an application for a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need from the state Public Service Commission. The notice said the application would be filed on or around Dec. 31.

The new map shows a route that, after landfall, runs much closer to Henderson Bay, then runs south and east of Belleville, possibly using a former electric power line right of way. Instead of running to Albion and Parish, the new route goes through the village of Pulaski into the town of Mexico.

The old route generally was farther to the west. In some spots, the new route is well east of the old one.

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It looks surprisingly like a Smart Car and frankly has one of the dumbest names I’ve ever come across, but the $19,000 all-electric RTEV (Ruff & Tuff Electric Vehicles) Wheego Whip will be available in the United States in May 2009.

The Wheego Whip can reach a maximum speed of about 70 mph, but until it passes crash tests by the US DoT, expected sometime in 2010, it will be released initially as a Low Speed Vehicle (25 mph maximum speed) or a Medium Speed Vehicle (35 mph max). RTEV says that the Whip can travel 50 miles on single 8-hour charge, from any standard household 110 or 220v outlet.

BINGHAMTON -- Energy East has transferred 11 parcels in Broome County to Iberdrola for $24.2 million as part of its acquisition by the Spanish energy company.

Iberdrola's associated transfer tax payment -- $120,889 -- is the largest in recent history, county Clerk Richard R. Blythe said.

"I don't recall one larger," he said. "I mean, you're buying all of NYSEG."

The transfer is part of a larger, $208.8 million transaction including Energy East properties outside of Broome, Blythe said.

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Congressman-elect Eric Massa, D-Corning, announced this morning that he accepts victory in the 29th Congressional District election.

“It’s my honor and I stand before you deeply humbled to accept the victory as your next congressman, 29th Congressional District, in the 111th Congress,” Massa told supporters and media packing his campaign office at 79 E. Market St. in Corning. The remark received a round of applause.

His margin of victory was about 5,000 votes, he said.

“I made a commitment during the course of the election that I wanted every ballot counted before I accepted this victory. It’s my understanding every ballot has now been counted and the decision has been made. But I have no illusions. This was a close election, and we obviously have a great deal of work to do. That work is going to center on the problems that we have,” he said.

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With gas companies rushing to drill in New York, many are pushing for the state government to step in and regulate the industry.

Representatives from the state's Department of Environmental Conservation held this public comment session tonight at Broome Community College.

The DEC wrote a draft of all the possible regulations and problems involved with the gas industry, called a scope.

It's now looking to the public to give them insight on things they may have missed.

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Local politicians urged New York state Thursday night not to impose, in the words of Sen. George H. Winner Jr., R-Elmira, "unreasonable, unfair regulations" on natural gas drilling that could drive away a potential economic stimulus in the Southern Tier.

But several residents at a public hearing expressed concerns about drilling's effect on water tables.

"Many of us rely on individual drinking wells for our water," said Robin De Lill-Stroman of Chemung.

The differing views concerned a draft scope for an environmental impact statement about natural gas drilling in New York.

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