By William Opalka

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — New York Public Service Commission Chairman Audrey Zibelman last week acknowledged legislators’ concerns over the state’s energy costs but gave no indication that the commission would relent on lawmakers’ demands that it release data on generators’ finances.

Forty State Assembly members and nine state senators signed a letter last week asking the commission to release in full the annual reports submitted by the state’s generation owners.

Generators contend that the reports should be treated as trade secrets because they contain data on their revenues, expenses and profits.

“I understand that people are worried about price confidentiality; I can assure you that the commission takes very seriously its role around maintaining confidentiality and of course we’re reviewing the [disclosure request] against the law,” Zibelman told the fall conference of the Independent Power Producers of New York.

“But I think we can’t disabuse ourselves of the fact that one of the things that’s very important in our markets is to have public confidence and when you have 48 [sic] Assembly people saying ‘We have some concerns,’ we need to start talking about how do we allay those concerns and make sure that there is confidence throughout the state.”

Legislators say the information is essential to determining whether electric competition has resulted in “just and reasonable” rates.

“For too long the industry has operated in secrecy, which is damaging to New Yorkers across the state, who are paying the third highest rate for electricity in the entire country,” the legislators wrote. “In a time where the PSC is taking steps to lead New York into the energy future with [Reforming the Energy Vision], and it’s proceeding to evaluate energy affordability for low-income utility customers, we ask that the PSC do everything it can to make sure that the industry is operating responsibly.”

Cost-Benefit Analysis on REV

The REV initiative also came under criticism at the IPPNY conference from Michael Durant, New York state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Durant said he feared REV could result in a “bridge to nowhere” and that his organization will support legislation calling for a cost-benefit analysis for the initiative.

“For REV, we don’t know what it’s going to cost, we don’t know how long it’s going to take and nobody can predict what the end result is,” he said, adding that energy costs are a top concern for his small business members.

Second Request for Release of Reports

The release of the generators’ reports was first requested by Assemblyman James Brennan (D-Brooklyn), who says consumers are being overcharged “billions” by power generators in a flawed market that needs to be “re-regulated” (13-01283 and 11-M-0294).

Brennan, chair of the Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, said much of the redacted information is available from other public sources.

“The wholesale electric power industry seeks to conceal its profits from the public by claiming that the bidding system would be undermined if rivals knew each other’s costs,” Brennan said in a statement. “But our evidence shows that argument is without merit because the bidder’s identities are easily ascertainable and their costs are easily calculated from regular federal filings made by these companies.”

The lawmaker’s first Freedom of Information Law request in 2014 was rejected by the PSC’s records access officer, who said the information consisted of protected trade secrets, and that disclosure would cause havoc in the operation of the power markets. Kathleen H. Burgess, secretary of the state Department of Public Service, agreed, rejecting Brennan’s appeal.

Brennan filed a second request in May, which was also rejected by the records access officer. On Aug. 27, Brennan again appealed to the secretary.

This time around, Brennan’s request included an affidavit from energy consultant Robert McCullough that said that heat rate information from power plants is publicly available in the Environmental Protection Agency’s national electric energy data system database.

IPPNY responded with an affidavit that said the database contains estimates and not the actual heat rates that the PSC requires. The records officer agreed.

IPPNY and nuclear plant owner Entergy argued that the disclosure issue had already been decided. “No new facts or circumstances have developed over the past year to warrant a different result now,” an attorney for Entergy wrote in response to the appeal.

Brennan had asked for decision by Sept. 11, but the commission will not rule on his demand for disclosure until Oct. 19. “In light, however, of the length of the appeal, and particularly the 190-page McCullough affidavit, and of the issues raised in the oppositions received thus far from IPPNY and Entergy, a decision on the appeal will require some period of time,” Burgess wrote on Sept. 11.