ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POWER

ALLOCATION BOARD

MINUTES

 

June 16, 2010

Video Conference – 10:00 a.m.

 

                                New York Power Authority Offices:

                                                123 Main Street, 16^th Floor, White Plains, NY

                                                501 7^th Avenue, 9^th Floor, New York, NY

                                                830 Barnhart Island, Massena, NY

                                Empire State Development Corp., 95 Perry Street, Suite 500, Buffalo, NY

                City of Oswego Community Development, 20 West Oneida Street, 3^rd Floor, Oswego, NY

                                               

1.       Approval of the Minutes of the May 17, 2010 Regular Meeting.

 

2.                   Power for Jobs Extended Benefits Recommendations for

                Electricity Savings Reimbursements                                               

 

A.               COMPANIES IN JOB COMPLIANCE

 

Con Edison - Service Territory

 

Belmont Metals, Inc. Brooklyn - Kings County   Display Producers, Inc. Bronx - Bronx County   Greater Jamaica Development Corp. Jamaica - Queens County   IBM – Westchester Armonk - Westchester County

Norampac New York City, Inc. Maspeth - Queens County   NYU Medical Center New York - New York County   S. R. Guggenheim Museum New York - New York County

 

Long Island Power Authority - Service Territory

 

Enzo Clinical Labs, Inc. Farmingdale - Suffolk County   Good Samaritan Hospital West Islip - Suffolk County   Kozy Shack, Inc. Hicksville - Nassau County

Standard Microsystems Corp. Hauppauge - Suffolk County   Ultimate Precision Metal Farmingdale - Suffolk County

 

National Grid - Service Territory

 

Associated Brands, Inc. Medina - Orleans County   BorgWarner Morse TEC Cortland - Cortland County   Burrows Paper Corp. Little Falls - Herkimer County Carville National Leather Corp. Johnstown - Fulton County   Clarkson University Potsdam - St. Lawrence County Cortland Line Co., Inc. Cortland - Cortland County   Crucible Industries LLC Syracuse - Onondaga County   Dielectric Laboratories, Inc. Cazenovia - Madison County   Eastman Machine Company Buffalo - Erie County   Fitzpatrick & Weller, Inc. Ellicottville - Cattaraugus County   G L & V Sandy Hill Inc. Hudson Falls - Washington County   Higbee Inc. Syracuse - Onondaga County   HMI Metal Powders Clayville - Oneida County   Intertek Testing Services Cortland - Cortland County   Keystone Corporation Buffalo - Erie County

Kilian Manufacturing Corporation Syracuse - Onondaga County   Lewis County General Hospital Lowville - Lewis County   Luvata Buffalo, Inc. Buffalo - Erie County Lydall Manning Green Island - Albany County   Meloon Foundries, Inc. Syracuse - Onondaga County   Mohawk Paper Mills Cohoes - Albany County   Nathan Littauer Hospital & Nursing Home Gloversville - Fulton County   Norlite Corp. Cohoes - Albany County   Oldcastle Precast Inc. South  Bethlehem - Albany County   Rome Specialty Company, Inc. Rome - Oneida County   Sorrento Lactalis, Inc. Buffalo - Erie County   Syracuse Casting Sales Corp. Cicero - Onondaga County   Syracuse Plastics, Inc. Liverpool - Onondaga County   Syracuse University Syracuse - Onondaga County   Turbine Engine Components Technologies Whitesboro - Oneida County

 

New York State Electric & Gas

 

Ultralife Batteries, Inc. Newark - Wayne County

Rochester Gas & Electric

 

XLI Corporation Rochester - Monroe County

 

3.                Power for Jobs Extended Benefits, Energy Cost Savings Benefits

             Awards and Economic Development Power Contract Extensions

 

4.                Transfers of Industrial Power

 

5.                Other Business

 

6.                 Next Meeting

 

                A regular meeting of the Economic Development Power Allocation Board was held via video conference at the following participating locations:

 

1)       New York Power Authority, 123 Main Street, White Plains, NY

2)       New York Power Authority, 501 7^th Avenue, 9^th Floor, New York, NY

3)       New York Power Authority, 830 Barnhart Island, Massena, NY

4)       Empire State Development Corp., 95 Perry Street, Suite 500, Buffalo, NY

5)       City of Oswego Community Development, 20 West Oneida Street, 3^rd Floor, Oswego, NY

 

The following Members of the Board were present at the following locations:

Kenneth Schoetz, Chairman (Buffalo, NY)

Eugene L. Nicandri, Member, (Massena, NY)

Robert B. Catell, Member, (New York, NY)

Mary Vanouse, Member, (Oswego, NY)

 

 

Also in attendance were:

James F. Pasquale               Senior Vice President - Marketing & Economic Development, NYPA

Karen Delince                      Corporate Secretary, NYPA

Angela Graves                      Deputy Secretary, NYPA

MaryJean Frank                  Associate Secretary, NYPA

Lorna Johnson                     Assistant Secretary, NYPA

Michael Huvane                  Vice President - Marketing, NYPA

Michael Saltzman               Director – Media Relations, NYPA

Timothy Muldoon               Manager – Business Power Allocations & Compliance, NYPA

Dennis Eccleston                 Chief Information Officer, Information Technology, NYPA

 

1.             Adoption of Minutes

The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of May 17, 2010.

 

2.             Power for Jobs Program – Extended Benefits

 

SUMMARY

 

The Members of the Economic Development Power Allocation Board (EDPAB”) are to recommend that the Power Authority’s Trustees (“Trustees”) approve extended benefits for 44 Power for Jobs (“PFJ”) customers as listed in Exhibit “A”.  

 

BACKGROUND

 

                In July 1997, the New York State Legislature approved a program to provide low-cost power to businesses and not-for-profit corporations that agree to retain or create jobs in New York State.  In return for commitments to create or retain jobs, successful applicants received three-year contracts for PFJ electricity.

 

The PFJ program originally made 400 megawatts (“MW”) of power available and was to be phased in over three years.  As a result of the initial success of the program, the Legislature amended the PFJ statute to accelerate the distribution of the power and increase the size of the program to 450 MW.                In May 2000, legislation was enacted that authorized additional power to be allocated under the program.  Legislation further amended the program in July 2002.

 

                Chapter 59 of the Laws of 2004 extended the benefits for PFJ customers whose contracts expired before the end of the program in 2005.  Such customers had to choose to receive an “electricity savings reimbursement” rebate and/or a power contract extension.  The Authority was also authorized to voluntarily fund the rebates, if deemed feasible and advisable by the Trustees.

 

PFJ customers whose contracts expired on or prior to November 30, 2004 were eligible for a rebate to the extent funded by the Authority from the date their contract expired through December 31, 2005.  Customers whose contracts expired after November 30, 2004 were eligible for rebate or contract extension, assuming funding by the Authority, from the date their contracts expired through December 31, 2005.

 

Approved contract extensions entitled customers to receive the power from the Authority pursuant to a sale-for-resale agreement with the customer’s local utility.  Separate allocation contracts between customers and the Authority contained job commitments enforceable by the Authority.

 

In 2005, provisions of the approved State budget extended the period PFJ customers could receive benefits until December 31, 2006.  Chapter 645 of the Laws of 2006 included provisions extending program benefits until June 30, 2007.  Chapter 89 of the Laws of 2007 included provisions extending program benefits until June 30, 2008.  Chapter 59 of the Laws of 2008 included provisions extending the program benefits until June 30, 2009.  Chapter 217 of the Laws of 2009 included provisions extending the program benefits until May 15, 2010.  Recently, an “extender” law was executed modifying the expiration of the program to June 2, 2010.

 

At its meeting of October 18, 2005, EDPAB approved criteria under which applicants whose extended benefits EDPAB had reduced for non-compliance with their job commitments could apply to have their PFJ benefits reinstated in whole or in part.  EDPAB authorized staff to create a short-form application, notify customers of the process, send customers the application and evaluate reconsideration requests based on the approved criteria. 

               

DISCUSSION

 

                EDPAB is requested to recommend that the Authority Trustees approve electricity savings reimbursement payments (rebates) to the 44 PFJ customers, all of which are meeting their job commitment and are listed in Exhibit “A”.  Collectively, these organizations have agreed to retain more than 30,000 jobs in New York State in exchange for rebates. These recommended payments are for rebate periods prior to the expiration of the program. All PFJ rebate customers are eligible for payments through the program’s expiration June 2, 2010.

 

 

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

It is requested that the Economic Development Power Allocation Board recommend that the Authority Trustees approve the payment of electricity savings reimbursements to the 44 business listed in Exhibit “A”.

 

Mr. James Pasquale presented staff’s recommendations to the Board.  In response to a question from Judge Eugene Nicandri, Mr. Pasquale said that the Board would be asked to approve rebate payments through the June 2, 2010 sunset date for the PFJ program after the customers have submitted their bills.

                The following resolution was unanimously adopted by members of the Board present.

WHEREAS, the following entities have applied for extended benefits recommendations for electricity savings reimbursements under the Power for Jobs program:

 

Con Edison - Service Territory

 

Belmont Metals, Inc. Brooklyn - Kings County   Display Producers, Inc. Bronx - Bronx County   Greater Jamaica Development Corp. Jamaica - Queens County   IBM – Westchester Armonk - Westchester County

Norampac New York City, Inc. Maspeth - Queens County   NYU Medical Center New York - New York County   S. R. Guggenheim Museum New York - New York County

 

Long Island Power Authority - Service Territory

 

Enzo Clinical Labs, Inc. Farmingdale - Suffolk County   Good Samaritan Hospital West Islip - Suffolk County   Kozy Shack, Inc. Hicksville - Nassau County

Standard Microsystems Corp. Hauppauge - Suffolk County   Ultimate Precision Metal Farmingdale - Suffolk County

 

National Grid - Service Territory

 

Associated Brands, Inc. Medina - Orleans County   BorgWarner Morse TEC Cortland - Cortland County   Burrows Paper Corp. Little Falls - Herkimer County Carville National Leather Corp. Johnstown - Fulton County   Clarkson University Potsdam - St. Lawrence County Cortland Line Co., Inc. Cortland - Cortland County   Crucible Industries LLC Syracuse - Onondaga County   Dielectric Laboratories, Inc. Cazenovia - Madison County   Eastman Machine Company Buffalo - Erie County   Fitzpatrick & Weller, Inc. Ellicottville - Cattaraugus County   G L & V Sandy Hill Inc. Hudson Falls - Washington County   Higbee Inc. Syracuse - Onondaga County   HMI Metal Powders Clayville - Oneida County   Intertek Testing Services Cortland - Cortland County   Keystone Corporation Buffalo - Erie County

Kilian Manufacturing Corporation Syracuse - Onondaga County   Lewis County General Hospital Lowville - Lewis County   Luvata Buffalo, Inc. Buffalo - Erie County Lydall Manning Green Island - Albany County   Meloon Foundries, Inc. Syracuse - Onondaga County Mohawk Paper Mills Cohoes - Albany County   Nathan Littauer Hospital & Nursing Home Gloversville - Fulton County   Norlite Corp. Cohoes - Albany County   Oldcastle Precast Inc. South  Bethlehem - Albany County   Rome Specialty Company, Inc. Rome - Oneida County   Sorrento Lactalis, Inc. Buffalo - Erie County   Syracuse Casting Sales Corp. Cicero - Onondaga County   Syracuse Plastics, Inc. Liverpool - Onondaga County   Syracuse University Syracuse - Onondaga County   Turbine Engine Components Technologies Whitesboro - Oneida County

 

New York State Electric & Gas

 

Ultralife Batteries, Inc. Newark - Wayne County

Rochester Gas & Electric

 

XLI Corporation Rochester - Monroe County

 

 

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That the Board hereby finds and determines that such applications meet the requirements of the extended benefits provisions of the Power for Jobs legislation contained in Article 6 of the Economic Development Law as amended by Chapter 217 of the Laws of 2009; and be it further

 

                RESOLVED, That the Board recommends to the Power Authority of the State of New York the 44 applications for extended benefits recommendations for electricity savings reimbursements discussed herein totaling 44,270 kW for the period through May 15, 2010.

 

 

3.             Power for Jobs Extended Benefits, Energy Cost

Savings Benefit Awards and Economic Development

Power Program Contract Extensions                            

 

SUMMARY

 

                This is a placeholder item. 

 

Subject to the approval of legislation by the Governor and State Legislature, the Board will be asked to recommend to the Power Authority the extension of Power for Jobs contracts and rebates, Energy Cost Savings Benefits awards and the contract extensions.

 

               

Mr. Pasquale explained that this placeholder item had been included in the agenda in anticipation of new economic development power legislation being enacted by the date of the meeting.  He said that there is not much new to report on the legislation under consideration, with there being no reconciliation yet of the Energize New York bill supported by the Governor and the Senate with the Assembly bill that is based more on Authority dollars than Authority power.  In response to a question from Chairman Kenneth Schoetz, Mr. Pasquale said that he believed the sticking point for the Assembly is the power currently allocated to the rural and domestic customers of the three upstate investor-owned utilities (National Grid, New York State Electric and Gas Corporation and Rochester Gas and Electric Corporation).  Mr. Robert Catell said that it was possible that a resolution of the ongoing budget stalemate could include a compromise economic development power bill.  Responding to a question from Judge Nicandri, Mr. Pasquale said that he has heard many in the Assembly want to see the benefit from the rural and domestic power allocation remain upstate.  In response to a question from Ms. Mary Vanouse, Mr. Pasquale said that the Energize New York bill included two provisions to address this concern:  (1) a minimum of 300 MW of power would remain upstate and (2) the effects on the residential consumers would be mitigated by permanent discounts on their monthly electric bills.  Chairman Schoetz said that Mr. Pasquale had been doing a good job of keeping the Board members apprised of the status of this issue and asked him to keep doing so.