Power authority chief presses 'Energize New York' bill

Richard Kessel, New York Power Authority president and chief executive, pressed the Long Island Business Council on Tuesday to lobby elected officials to push the Energize New York program through the Assembly.

Kessel pushed the council to act immediately on the legislation. “The challenge is that right now it is critically important that the state legislature act on our economic development programs,” said Kessel, who spoke at the Molloy College Sustainability Institute in East Farmingdale. “I mean today, tomorrow, get the legislature to press to focus on this legislation.”

The proposed Energize New York legislartion passed in the Senate on Monday night, he said, and it now has to be reviewed and voted upon by the Assembly. The program would offer low cost hydropower energy to facilities of New York not near hydropower plants, such as Long Island. The program would extend the Power for Jobs program, which was the largest economic development program for energy in the country, helping over 500 businesses allocate cheaper power, according to Kessel. The program expired earlier this month.

 The new legislation would improve the efficiency and reliability of energy services on Long Island while offering cheaper power and creating thousands of jobs for Long Islanders, according to Kessel. The program would attract new businesses to Long Island and support smaller businesses. “Energy is extremely important to businesses and one of the biggest challenges to Long Island is the cost of energy,” said Kessel.

 

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