Mohawk Valley power rates would eventually fall because of the proposed New York Regional Interconnect line, but not before they rise, company officials said Friday.

That's a reversal of the company's prediction in 2006 that upstate power rates would go up even as downstate rates would fall.

Now, the power-line company says building the $2 billion, 190-mile, 1,200-megawatt power line would open up opportunities upstate for lower-cost producers and for generators of renewable energy sources such as wind power.

"The upstate rates are also going down because of that new growth, the renewables, the new generation," NYRI President Chris Thompson said in an Internet press conference Friday morning.

That assertion was met with skepticism from local politicians and economic-development officials, who continue to see the planned, 190-mile, 1,200-megawatt power line as a threat to the Utica area's economy.

"I think that's part of the misinformation that we have continually been getting from NYRI," said U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri, D-N.Y. "There isn't an hour that goes by in Congress that we don't talk about alternative energy and the high cost of energy. No one expects the cost will decrease."

Arcuri said NYRI is the only group he's ever heard make such a claim.

"If you pay enough, you can find consultants to say anything," Arcuri said. Such comments made clear Friday that regional leaders still have many concerns about the power line after New York Regional Interconnect submitted a revised application to the state Public Service Commission on Thursday afternoon.

That application comes more than a year-and-a-half after the state said a previous power-line application was inadequate.

Company officials say they expect it will take the state about a year to make a decision.

Among the selling points the company promoted Friday was a new NYRI-commissioned study that predicts a long-term drop in wholesale electricity rates statewide, including in Upstate New York.

In 2006, the power-line company cited studies that predicted Upstate's rates would rise if the transmission line were built.

Company officials sought to address concerns raised by Upstate New York officials and residents, saying the power line would provide an overall benefit to a state where electrical costs are high and where supplies are limited in key downstate areas.

"We believe NYRI is the best and most readily available solution," Thompson said.

Statewide savings in wholesale electricity costs would be $570 million, or 4.7 percent, by 2012 and $684 million, or 5.7 percent, by 2018, the company said.

In the Mohawk Valley, those costs would rise initially by 2.9 percent, according to NYRI's filing.

That's because as downstate taps into the abundance of electricity available at Marcy power facilities, the supply available for upstate would decrease, raising the region's prices.

Over the long term, the company predicted, consumer costs would decline in the Mohawk Valley, NYRI said.

Why the rosier estimates?

According to NYRI general counsel Leonard Singer, the 2006 NYRI application relied on a General Electric Co. study that used outdated information.

A new study by CRA International finds that if the power line were built, opportunities would arise for lower-cost power generation upstate, including from renewable sources such as wind power, Singer said.

Mohawk Valley EDGE President Steven DiMeo questioned the power-line company's estimates.

"My experiences with NYRI officials have been that they are a moving target," DiMeo said in an e-mail. "First, they say that power rates will increase (original application). Now they say that power rates will essentially go down in Upstate (although our power rates will initially go up)."

Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito, D-Rome, said the state should determine whether upstate power rates might fall, not a NYRI-hired consulting firm.

"I think we have to take it for what it is: They hired a consultant and their consultant came out with new information for their application," Destito said. "We have to rely on our Public Service Commission."

Destito interpreted the NYRI plan as saying that costs would go down locally in about 10 years, but people are clamoring today for lower costs, she said. Everyone from residents to manufacturers to large businesses are looking for ways to lower costs in New York, she said.

THE NYRI PLAN
* New York Regional Interconnect has submitted a revised power-line plan to the state Public Service Commission.

* It raises the project's estimated cost to $2 billion from $1.5 billion. That's because of the increased costs of burying the line over 20 miles in the Utica-New Hartford area and the Norwich area, and also because of rising materials and equipment costs, NYRI says.

* The proposal looks at alternate routes, including running the line around the Marcy NanoTech site instead of through it. It rejects, however, running the line down the state Thruway.