The last thing New York's economy needs is a government mandate telling us what kind of power we must buy and driving up our costs.
But that's what the state Public Service Commission (PSC) is being asked to do. In today's recommended decision sent to the PSC, a state administrative law judge has urged the administration to require consumers and businesses to buy energy from sources dictated by government and at costs that are now well above already-high market prices.
The administrative law judge projects increases in costs of 1.8 percent for residential customers and even higher, 2.4 percent, for industrial customers. At a time when New York State has been hemorrhaging jobs, especially in its manufacturing sector, that's unconscionable. (And we think the cost increases will be significantly higher.)
The Business Council supports renewable power. We're proud that New York already has among the highest rates of renewable power usage in the country. But we are very concerned that a mandatory purchase quota will turn this into a seller's market that will drive our energy costs still higher.
As the PSC reviews this recommended decisionand it is only that, a recommendationit should consider the least expensive and least intrusive alternatives before more costly and economically harmful options are embraced. In particular, we believe that a voluntary approach should be tried before mandatory purchase quotas are imposed.
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