NYSEG opposes proposal of ‘public power system’ for Erie County
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – A local state lawmaker is making a push for Erie County and local towns and cities to be powered by a government-controlled utility to lower costs.
The proposal comes from state assembly member Pat Burke, a Democrat, who is up for re-election this November. It’s coming at a time when many NYSEG customers are upset about rising energy costs after their rates went up.
On Thursday, Burke went before the Erie County Legislature with his proposal of moving to municipal power. Under the proposal, local areas would take over power lines and operate their own power company. It already happens in some rural areas of Western New York such as Springville, Akron and Little Valley.
In Springville for example, the village owns and operates Springville Electric — one of the 47 municipally-owned power companies in N.Y. In Akron, the village is a member of the Municipal Electric Utilities Association. The theory is that this would lower costs.
Burke does acknowledge that switching to a public power system would take years to get to.
“There could be reasons why this isn’t a good idea, there really could be,” Burke said. “We have to talk about the labor component, those are peoples jobs and how would that affect them? That has to be discussed we need to talk about potential cost of acquisition of lines.”
In response to Burke’s proposal, NYSEG says moving to municipal power would be the wrong choice and would result in bills going up more. NYSEG also indicates that unions would be against government-controlled power.
Burke says that NYSEG customers are victims of price gouging because of these high energy costs, but NYSEG disputes that, saying that rates are approved by the state’s Public Service Commission.
“A government taking over a private-owned business, let’s sit with that right,” said Alexis Arnold, a NYSEG spokesperson. “This is not the road that Erie County wants to go down, it’s a risky scheme that puts politicians in charge of the grid and it’s going to put taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars.”
There was strong opposition from Republicans on the legislature to this proposal.
“I believe that government should not be in the business of electrical or any utility,” said Legislature Frank Todaro. “I would rather see personally that we try to open it up to other companies that are somewhere locally that want to get in the business here locally and compete. I think that would be healthiest way.”
It’s not just NYSEG that’s raised rates, National Grid and National Fuel are looking to do the same thing. The state Public Service Commission says a decision to create a municipal power system rests solely with local areas.
Last year, the PSC approved of NYSEG’s three-year rate plans for electric and gas customers. On a total electric bill basis, the results for NYSEG yield is 6.6 percent, 7.3 percent, and 8.2 percent increases in each of the rate years.
“This isn’t to go after NYSEG or National Grid or any utility provider, but it’s to have a conversation,” Burke said. “If you’re seeing alarmingly high increase in your rates, the bills are shocking when they come in I know mine is.”
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