Will there be Power for Jobs? Will the state Legislature energize New York? Or will efforts to use energy policy to spark the state economy short circuit?
The state”™s longstanding Power for Jobs initiative is in the political limbo of Albany, even as state lawmakers consider creating a permanent program called Energize New York that would revamp how the state Power Authority and economic development officials provide low-cost power to qualified businesses in New York with the goal of creating jobs and commerce.
But before a new program can be enacted, the state Assembly must reach agreement with the Senate as well as with Gov. David Paterson concerning details of how customers in upstate New York who currently receive low-cost power from the state Power Authority would be treated under the new rules.
“We should be focused reforming Power for Jobs in ways that will create jobs without raising energy costs for households that are already struggling during these tough times,” said Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, chairman of the Assembly energy committee, which has been negotiating with the governor”™s office and Senate officials to reach a final reform package.
Cahill said that under the proposed legislation supported by the Senate and by Paterson, upstate consumers, farmers and businesses would lose most of a benefit worth about $200 million (that figure derived from 2008 energy prices), with that benefit reduced to some $30 million over the course of five years.
The calculus of energy costs is itself a point of contention since figuring fluctuating energy costs is a very much a calendar-dependent exercise. Cahill said the Assembly version would see the value of benefits for the upstate region remain the same (about $200 million).
Tom Congdon, the governor”™s deputy secretary for energy, said the program is fair to upstaters. “We want to mitigate as much as we can, but we can”™t get a permanent program without something giving and we think we have struck the right balance,” he said.
He noted that in addition to gradually reducing the current benefit and setting aside a permanent fund of $30 million for customers in the three effected upstate utilities, those areas will receive a third of the power set aside for economic development programs, wth 320 megawatts out of a program of 910mw earmarked for economic development in the NYSEG,, Rochester Gas and Electric and National Energy service areas.
Meanwhile the details of Energize NY are roughly agreed upon by all three parties, redeploying some 455 megawatts of upstate power now disbursed in a NYPA Rural and Domestic Power program would create a permanent 910 megawatt power supply used to offer reduced rate power under seven year contracts to qualifying businesses and institutions.
Selection criteria will include among other factors: the applicant’s payroll; number of jobs that would be created or retained; risk of the applicant leaving the State; significance of electricity costs to the applicant; and energy efficiency commitments.
Among the key reforms is that the Power Authority could make multi-year allocations to companies to foment their financial planning, and could reallocate the programs”™ power resources to new companies. Currently, the PA must sell the power on the open market if a company that had utilized it moves or goes out of business.
Meanwhile  the current Power for Jobs program that was scheduled to sunset May 15 has been kept in force through one week legislative extensions. As of June 15, it was uncertain if another extension would be passed, but officials on both sides said they believed the Energize NY program would be approved this legislative session.
