CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

New York State Electric and Gas’ $50 million plan to boost electrical availability to Corning area industries took a step forward Thursday with the Steuben County Industrial Development Agency approving tax breaks for the utility’s Corning Valley Transmission Project.

Board members approved sales tax exemptions and a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) for the project.
PILOTs provide reduced property taxes in return for scheduled annual payments that increase over a set period of time.

The Corning Valley Transmission Project received SCIDA’s standard 20-year PILOT, which calls for a first-year payment of 50 percent of property taxes, followed by a 2.5 percent increase every year.

SCIDA consultant Jack Benjamin, who is also president of Three Rivers Development Corp., told the board the electrical upgrade will provide the Corning area with the power needed for development during the next 20 years.

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New York State Electric & Gas Corp. has agreed to lower its requested increase in revenues by 40 percent, said David L. Prestemon, an administrative law judge for the state Public Service Commission, which has the final say on the utility company's rate increase request.

Originally, NYSEG asked to increase revenue by about $169.7 million for electricity delivery service and by $63.4 million for natural gas delivery service to its 1.7 million customers. The increases represented a 32.2 percent in revenue for electricity delivery and a 39.5 percent increase in revenue for gas delivery. Under the proposed rate increase, the typical NYSEG customer would pay a total $37.73 more each month.

The PSC can adopt, reject or amend any part of the requested changes. The increases, if approved, would become effective Sept. 25.

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Members of New York's Public Service Commission (PSC) were in town to get feedback about rate increases that could amount, on average, to $11 dollars a month for electric, to $21 dollars a month for gas.

Many people, like Trudy Harper, spoke out against the hike on the behalf of the Monroe County Workers Benefit Council. That organization represents low-income service workers, the unemployed and the disabled.

"Low-paid and under-employed people are the ones who must make the deadly choice every winter between heating and eating, or face death because of heat stroke and heart failure, because we cannot afford to run a fan or the air conditioning because of the cost. I'm here to say that it is unconscionable for the PSC to grant any additional increase in utility rates."

RG&E and NYSEG were both recently purchased by Iberdrola, a Spanish company. As a condition of that purchase, the utilities were barred from asking for rate hikes for one year after the sale, but last year requested an increase regardless, citing the economic crisis.

The PSC denied that increase, and the utilities again asked for a rate hike after the year-long ban had passed.

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Rochester, N.Y.- People in Rochester will get the chance Tuesday to let the State Public Service Commission know how they feel about proposals by Rochester Gas and Electric and New York State Electric & Gas Corporation to raise utility rates.

State regulators are holding four public hearings on the matter.

NYSEG has proposed increasing rates by $169.7 million for electric service delivery and by $63.4 million for natural gas delivery service.

RG&E proposed increasing rates by $87.4 million for electric service delivery and $62.9 million for natural gas delivery.

If approved by the PSC, the rate hikes would become effective September 25, 2010.

Tuesday’s hearing will be held from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Rochester City Hall on Church Street.

The New York State Public Service Commission will hold a public statement hearing, and otherwise invites public comments, on a proposal by the Hudson Transmission Partners to construct a transmission line connecting an existing substation in Ridgefield, New Jersey to the West 49th Street substation owned by Consolidated Edison. The 345 kV line will enter the Hudson River at Edgewater, New Jersey and will be buried beneath the riverbed and proceed south to a point adjacent to Piers 92 and 94 opposite West 52nd Street where it will enter Manhattan.

The proposed transmission facility, if built, would provide the New York Power Authority with transmission access to sources of power in the PJM electric system, a regional transmission operator in Pennsylvania that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Interested members of the public may provide their comments regarding this matter at a public statement hearing to be held as follows:

APRIL 27, 1 p.m.
NYS Department of Public Service
4th Floor Board Room
90 Church Street
Manhattan, NYC

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There's been an unexpected great leap over what to do about the high-volume natural gas drilling proposed for New York's Southern Tier and into the Catskills.

Many who are skeptical of drilling are going to love it and rejoice. But wait, there may still be a snake or two in the woodpile for those who want to see a wider ban. In truth, it just got harder to stop the gas industry from more or less getting its way.

What's happened is this: The state in effect has taken the New York City watershed in the Catskills out of consideration for hydrofrack gas drilling. The Department of Environmental Conservation is developing a generic environmental impact statement from which a set of rules, procedures and regulations will be crafted to govern hydrofrack gas drilling. We learned this past week that the DEC should have that statement done by late fall. Pending drilling permits could begin a review process shortly after. It's coming soon, near you. Maybe.

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Syracuse, NY -- State regulators are inching closer to a decision on double-digit rate hikes proposed by two Upstate electric and gas utilities that serve portions of Central New York. Now it’s time for consumers to weigh in.

New York State Electric & Gas Corp. and Rochester Gas & Electric Corp. are looking to boost their delivery revenues in September by increasing customer bills for electricity and natural gas by roughly 15 percent to 19 percent.

Go to the PSC website, www.dps.state.ny.us, and fill in the electronic “comment form.”

• Write to Jaclyn Brilling, secretary, NYS Public Service Commission, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, 12223.

• Call the PSC opinion line at 1-800-335-2120.

Your comments should refer to the appropriate case numbers. For NYSEG, the case numbers are 09-E-0715 (electric) and 09-G-0716 (gas); for RG&E, the numbers are 09-E-0717 (electric) and 09-G-0718 (gas).

ALBANY - The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) today announced it would hold public statement hearings on proposals by New York State Electric & Gas Corporation (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric Corporation (RG&E) to increase rates.

NYSEG has proposed to increase rates by approximately $169.7 million for electric delivery service and by $63.4 million for natural gas delivery service. The proposed increases represent approximately 32.2 percent of NYSEG's electric delivery revenue and 39.5 percent of its gas delivery revenue.

RG&E has proposed to increase rates by approximately $87.4 million for electric delivery service and by $62.9 million for natural gas delivery service. The proposed increases represent approximately 27.1 percent of RG&E's electric delivery revenue and 47.1 percent of its gas delivery revenue.

The increases for both NYSEG and RG&E would become effective on September 25, 2010. Under New York State Law, the Commission must consider utility rate proposals and may adopt, reject, or amend any part of the requested changes in rates and services.

Four separate public statement hearings will be held at the following locations:

Tuesday, April 27 -- Rochester
City Hall Common Council Chambers
30 Church Street, 3rd floor
1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Tuesday, April 27 -- Geneva
Geneva Community Center Black Box Theater
160 Carter Road
5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday, April 28 -- Binghamton
Broome County Public Library Decker Room
185 Court Street
5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, April 29 -- Lancaster
Lancaster Village Municipal Building Auditorium
5423 Broadway
4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Public hearings, including one in Rochester, have been scheduled by the state Public Service Commission related to proposed rate increases by Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. and New York State Electric & Gas Corp.

The Rochester hearing is on Tuesday from 1 to 3 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall, the commission said. Also on that day, a hearing is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Geneva Community Center in Ontario County.

Other hearings are scheduled for next Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Broome County Public Library in Binghamton, and next Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Lancaster Village Municipal Building in Erie County.

The public can comment at the hearings before an administrative law judge assigned by the commission to these cases, PSC officials said. Verbatim transcripts of the hearings will be made for inclusion in the record of the proceeding, officials said.

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