Executive Speeches

Remarks of Eugene W. Zeltmann, President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Power Authority, at the annual meeting of the New York State Municipal Electric Utilities Association (MEUA), Lake Placid, New York.

September 15, 2005

Good evening.

I’m honored to be here to help celebrate the MEUA’s 75th anniversary.  I’ll be relatively brief since I know you’ve already had your full quota of speakers.

I do, however, want to repeat a story that I heard the other day. It really has nothing to do with anniversaries, but at least it’s about marriage, which I guess is close enough.

An elderly widower and widow were living in a retirement home and had known each other for a number of years.  One night, at a supper in the activity center, he gathered his courage and asked her to marry him.  She quickly said yes and they went back to their respective rooms.

The next morning, he couldn’t remember whether she’d said yes or no.  So he called her and asked.

He was delighted when she answered:  “I said yes—and I meant it with all my heart.”  But then she continued: “And I’m so glad you called because I couldn’t remember who had asked me.”

When the Power Authority produced its first electricity at its hydroelectric project on the St. Lawrence River a little over 47 years ago, we began a marriage of sorts with the MEUA and those member systems who became some of our very first customers.  Three years later—when our Niagara Project began operation—we began serving municipal systems from there as well.

At that point, it wasn’t clear who was pursuing whom as our hydropower was priced at around the same level as electricity from oil- and coal-fueled sources.  But the price disparity grew significantly over time and the list of our municipal-system customers also continued to grow.

I don’t know how many of you were around for it, but we reached a milestone in late 1978 when we began serving the Green Island system.  This meant that—for the first time—the Power Authority was providing at least partial service to all of the municipal electric systems and rural cooperatives in New York State.  That distinction was maintained in 1981 when a new system—Massena—started up and immediately became an Authority customer.

The partnership between the MEUA and the Power Authority has expanded and matured since then—as shown most strikingly by the landmark comprehensive agreement that we concluded in 2003.  Together, we are now positioned to provide a model for the nation of the performance and the promise of public power.

The importance of our relationship has been dramatically demonstrated in the aftermath of the hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast and its energy facilities late last month.

Once again, we’ve seen the consequences of this nation’s excessive dependence on oil and natural gas and of our failure to develop a diversified energy supply.  Once again,  we’ve seen the consequences of our reluctance―as a nation―to seriously pursue energy efficiency and clean new forms of transportation.  Once again―with many homes and businesses still without service and the absence of electricity having hampered recovery efforts―we’ve seen how vital a reliable power supply is.

So much of what our organizations do together is directed at addressing the problems underscored by Katrina.  Every day, we make use of a magnificent renewable resource—Power Authority hydroelectric power.  We are moving forward with ambitious efforts to promote energy efficiency.  And our electric-drive transportation program continues to gain momentum.

These days, of course, all of your hydropower comes from Niagara.  As you probably know, we submitted our application for a new 50-year federal license for the project last month.  We were required to do so two years before the current license expires at the end of August 2007—and we met that deadline with almost two weeks to spare.

We’ve reached settlement agreements with various Western New York stakeholders, federal and state agencies and the Tuscarora Nation.  But there are some in Western New York who are seeking greater financial compensation from the Power Authority as part of the relicensing.  It is vital that you continue to make your opinions known to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and your elected officials since—as we’ve repeatedly stated─excessive financial obligations for the Authority could ultimately impact your rates.

Meanwhile, we’ve upgraded 11 of the 13 turbine-generators at the Niagara Project’s main generating plant and we’re heading toward completion of the entire modernization program next year.

As we look ahead to a new license and a project that operates at maximum efficiency, we must also recognize how important it is to use the precious hydropower as efficiently as we can.

Some of you may recall that our conservation efforts with you date back to the Button Up and Watt Buster programs.

In recent years, the MEUA’s Independent Energy Efficiency Program has followed up on those initial successes by taking on thousands of energy audits and installing millions of dollars worth of energy-efficient technologies that save your systems more than 18 million kilowatt-hours a year.

Last year, I announced plans to undertake a number of additional energy-efficiency projects in your systems.

One of our major goals is to learn how energy-efficiency initiatives affect customer energy use at times of greatest demand.  We also hope to better grasp how systemwide energy efficiency can reduce strain on the transmission system.

This is a major concern throughout the country.  The fact is that over the past 25 years, investments in transmission have fallen to levels below those experienced during the Great Depression.

That’s why a study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy urges greater investments in energy efficiency and demand-side strategies to reduce strain on the power grid.

The growing demand for electricity in the Villages of Lake Placid and Tupper Lake               has long shown the effects of transmission limits. The Power Authority—under Governor Pataki’s leadership—has joined the villages and Niagara Mohawk in a broad strategy to help relieve the stressed transmission system here in the Tri-Lakes region of the Adirondacks.

A new 46-kilovolt transmission line—scheduled for completion in 2008—is a key element of the overall plan.  There will also be upgrades at area substations.  But—beyond this—we’re planning to invest $2 million in energy-efficiency enhancements at the new Lake Placid convention center.  We’re working with Tupper Lake to explore the feasibility of installing a biomass generating facility in the village.  And energy-efficiency audits have been completed for a number of Tupper Lake and Lake Placid customers.

As I indicated earlier, another important initiative for the Power Authority and your systems is the demonstration of electric and hybrid-electric vehicles.  Such vehicles can make significant contributions toward cleaning our air and reducing our dependence on imported oil.  A single trip to a local gasoline station will tell you how important this program is.

Under our Municipal Alternative-Fuel Vehicle Partnership, more than a dozen clean vehicles have been deployed in your systems.  Bath recently received a Toyota Prius to join the Ford Escape hybrid SUV the village had obtained a few months before.  And most recently, Green Island took delivery of a hybrid Escape.

I think it’s appropriate that all of this is happening as your Association marks its 75th anniversary.  Coincidentally, the celebration comes just one year before the Power Authority’s own 75th.  I guess you’re a step ahead of us—and some in this room might say it isn’t the first time.

In any case, it’s especially fitting that we’re uniting in a series of efforts to serve your customers and all of society by promoting energy efficiency and clean transportation and by deriving maximum benefit from the renewable wonder of it all—Niagara hydropower.

If our organizations are to make it to our one-hundredth anniversaries—as I have every reason to believe we will—we will need to prove our relevance in an age of enormous energy and environmental challenges. The only practicable way to make the transition—or I should say progression—to a new era of clean, renewable energy, wisely used, is to call on the most progressive sector of the electricity industry to lead the way.  And that, of course, is public power.

The MEUA and the Power Authority are providing ample proof that producing and using energy cleanly and efficiently not only improves the standard of living, but also enhances the quality of life.  That’s a powerful example.  And an example that we’ll have to set again and again until it catches on.

Thank you—and congratulations on this significant milestone.