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Senate Passes Recharge NY Program
Patrick M. Gallivan
March 8, 2011
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ISSUE:
- Energy
- Finance
- Government Operations
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GALLIVAN SEES IT AS KEY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TOOL FOR UPSTATE NEW YORK
Senator Patrick M. Gallivan announced today that the State Senate passed legislation to create a permanent state energy program that will continue to provide affordable energy rates to businesses in the Empire State. The legislation makes permanent the “Power For Jobs” program, which was subject to annual extensions to remain in effect. The new, permanent program is called “Recharge NY”.
“Recharge NY is vital to the economic interests of Western New York. This legislation increases access to cheap electricity for businesses across the state, allowing them to use their savings to plan their growth, reinvest in their business, expand operations and create jobs,” Gallivan said.
The program is designed to revitalize the manufacturing sector of New York’s economy that has experienced a precipitous decline in recent years. Power For Jobs has been in existence since 1997 but has relied on year-to year extensions since its statutory expiration five years ago.
“Businesses do not hire, invest, or make future expansion decisions based on single year forecasts; they make decisions based on long-term conditions and predicted long-term benefits. Recharge NY allows companies, particularly manufacturing firms, to enter multi-year agreements guaranteeing them affordable power for a definable period of time. This stability is a tremendous improvement over the system of yearly extensions, allowing businesses to reliably predict their energy costs and responsibly plot their growth,” said Gallivan, who is a co-sponsor of the legislation.
A provision to set aside an additional 350 MW for economic development initiatives in Upstate New York was also included. Recharge NY was taken up by the New York State Senate at the request of Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has included the legislation in his 2011-12 New York State Executive Budget.
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