POWERING UP NEW YORK'S ECONOMY
A survey of New York employers on the importance of energy costs and supplies to our economic future.
The Business Council, New York's largest broad-based business group, is surveying New York State employers, chambers and business associations, and economic development specialists on how energy markets, supplies, and prices affect a company's prosperity and the state's economy. Individual responses will not be published.
A. How important are energy costs to New York's competitiveness? To your firm's success?
Background: New York's energy costs have long been well above the national average. The Edison Electric Institute reports that New York's 1999 industrial energy costs were 40.8 percent above the national average, while commercial costs were 54 percent above average.
B. Should New York add more power plants to address concerns about its energy supplies?
Many experts fear that New York soon will have too little energy to sustain growth or even meet current needs. Economic growth has increased usage steadily for several years (e.g., from 25,800 megawatts in 1990 to 30,200 megawatts in 2000). But New York has built only one new power plant since 1994.
C. Should New York re-regulate its energy supplies, markets, and prices?
When New York had regulated energy markets, its energy costs were the nation's highest. Beginning in 1997, it began a slow transition to deregulation with the goal of letting market forces drive down costs in the long run. Given concerns about supply, today many energy experts and government officials say New York must add more power plants to ensure that competitive markets function well. But others say New York must re-regulate its markets and rely again on government to do such things as set prices and control markets and supplies.
E. What role does conservation play how companies deal with energy costs?
F. Employer data