Summertime, with its heat waves, monster electric bills and crippling blackouts, may not seem like the best time for Con Ed to try to sell you on pricier power. But marketers at ConEdison Solutions, a subsidiary of the giant utility, are betting that, if they ask the right people, they'll find some willing to pay an average of $10 more a month to switch to wind power. "Despite the fact that everybody would like to pay less for their electricity, there are growing numbers of New Yorkers who are deeply passionate about the environment and want to do something about climate change," said Peter Blom, a ConEd Solutions manager.

Armed with books, studies, facts and figures, several proponents of windmill projects addressed members of the county legislature during last night’s meeting. Fairfield resident Dennis Kaczeroski urged the county to accept Community Energy’s reported offer of $7,500 per megawatt for the 136-megawatt Jordanville Wind Farm for a payment in lieu of taxes agreement. The money would be split among the taxing entities involved - the county, the towns, and school district. The county has been seeking a higher figure, based on a consultant’s estimate of $40,000 per megawatt that they said the county should be able to expect. “Get what you can get; the market is the market. Don’t be short-sighted and derail this,” said Kaczeroski. “Your responsibility is to get the best deal for all of us.”

A Friday ruling by the State Supreme Court Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department, invalidated the 12-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal given to the power generator by the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency in October 2006. ...The IDA had granted the power company a 12-year, $192 million PILOT in exchange for the company's promise to pursue a shot at building a state-subsidized clean coal plant under former Gov. George Pataki's Advanced Clean Coal Initiative.

In a meeting broadcast at JCC on Thursday, Gay Canough, president of ETM Solar Works, said Chautauqua County could sell electricity to its neighbors after a relatively cheap investment of $20,000 in solar panels and wind turbines.

Handing out packets of Lipton tea and slices of sugared ginger, a group of anti-wind farm residents from areas in rural New York staged their own “Albany Tea Party” last week, calling a surcharge on electricity bills “taxation without representation.”

[T]he City Council approved a payment-in-lieu-of- taxes agreement for Steel Winds II, the second phase of the wind energy development on the former Bethlehem site. The agreement covers each of the proposed 13 turbines for 15 years, beginning when each is put into place. The payment will be based on $10,000 per megawatt for the 32.5 megawatts expected to be produced. ...A significant change in the new agreement is the inclusion of the school district and Erie County in the disbursement of PILOT monies. Neither was included in the original agreement...

The Warren Town Board voted Monday night to rescind a law passed two years ago that made wind turbines, solar-energy projects and any other green-energy sources taxable, Warren Town Clerk Anna Halkowich said. This means that the Jordanville Wind project's 68 turbines are tax-exempt and eligible for a payment in lieu of taxes agreement, she said. The project's turbines are planned for the towns of Warren and Stark.

The Cattaraugus County Legislature will decide Wednesday whether to spend $25,000 on a law firm to help negotiate payments from future wind farm developers within the county. Several lawmakers have stated they hope to keep the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency from collecting a percentage of a project worth several hundred millions of dollars, and several said they first want to meet with lawyers in person before agreeing to a contract. The requested $50,000 appropriation was halved after the Finance Committee amended the legislation during the initial round of discussion last Wednesday.

“I’m not sure everyone knows what they are voting on,” Bono, District 11, said prior to the vote. ...information included guidelines for the contract negotiation, which include a proposal for a payment in lieu of taxes of $8,000 per megawatt, for a total of $640,000 on an 80 megawatt project. The information also said that the county would receive a one-time payment of $360,000 to $400,000 in its general fund for use on other projects such as the construction of a new county correctional facility. “One of my main concerns is how can I justify an 85 percent tax break for this company and not for anyone else,” Bono said. “We want to attract businesses to Herkimer County, but we cannot give 85 percent tax breaks to everyone. We need to continue to work with the numbers.”

Madison County leaders turned down a six-figure payment from the developer of a 19-windmill project in three southern townships, citing a need for a comprehensive county policy on how to handle payments from windmill developers. The county had been negotiating a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with Citizens Airtricity Energy, the company that plans to build a 28.5-megawatt windmill farm in Eaton, Stockbridge and Madison this summer. The county’s share of the PILOT would have been $500 per megawatt, or $14,250 per year. The payments would continue for 16 years and increase with inflation. The county estimated the total payments would have been nearly $250,000After three hours of discussion Tuesday morning, supervisors instead voted to forgo the money. The county’s $500 share . Madison County’s portion of sales tax to stay 4 percent Page B-2 will be split among the other taxing jurisdictions, which will now share $8,000 per megawatt. The windmill debate has dominated conversations among county leaders for the past two weeks. Some vocal opponents said the county shouldn’t have been a part of the negotiations at all, since previous windmill projects in Fenner and Madison were built without the county taking a portion of the windmill payments.

When LIPA ...first proposed the offshore wind project in 2003, costs were estimated at $200 million. The company said it would have little to no impact on electricity rates. That was the last published cost estimate until fall 2006, when under a Freedom of Information Law request from Newsday, the power authority released the original, winning bid from FPL Energy of Florida: $356 million. The price increases didn't stop there. ..."Long Islanders shouldn't believe for one minute that any major form of renewable energy is going to be cheaper than traditional resources produced by oil or natural gas," Kessel wrote.

The proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm is ready to agree to spend more than $2 million per year as part of a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, but it stands to save nearly $23 million in other tax abatements. Officials from the town of Hounsfield, Sackets Harbor Central School District and Jefferson County are firming up their division of a property tax PILOT, which will generate $2.14 million per year.

The Dolgeville Central School District has been in discussions with the Manheim Town Council regarding the proposed wind energy project that will bring 41 industrial wind turbines to the town. Superintendent of Schools Ted Kawryga said Tuesday that he and Manheim Town Supervisor Tim Parisi have talked about the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement, and the share the school district will receive.

The belief that Green Choice would reduce the amount of oil and other fuels LIPA must purchase for energy -- and thereby reduce costs the more it's used -- appears to be widespread. The reality is somewhat different.

Jefferson County's Board of Legislators slowed down its consideration of the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement for the proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm. ...Chairman Barry M. Ormsby, R-Belleville, said representatives of the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency and Galloo Island's developer, Upstate NY Power Corp., would come to the meeting. Mr. Ormsby said they also would allow the public to speak during privilege of the floor, though no public hearing is required.

The payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement for the proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm would take some money that normally would go to the school district and give it to the town. The PILOT would send 50 percent to Sackets Harbor Central School District, 15 percent to the town of Hounsfield and 35 percent to Jefferson County. The three are splitting a $2.14 million pie, which will increase 2.5 percent each year for 20 years.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer today unveiled a new energy strategy that relies on reducing energy use 15 percent by 2015, investing $300 million in renewable and "clean" power projects and increasing supply by passing a new law to expedite power-plant siting. "The result will be lower energy bills, a cleaner environment that addresses climate change and thousands of new jobs fueled by a new industry born from clean power," Spitzer said in a speech to a business group in Manhattan.

With the price of energy at an all time high, taxes and surcharges in your bill are under a lot more scrutiny.

The Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency will seek public comments at 6:30 p. m. tonight, Wednesday and Thursday in hearings on proposed revisions to the agency's uniform tax exemption policy to accommodate wind farm developments. The revisions, if adopted, will set a schedule for payments-in-lieu-of-taxes.

The pros and cons of wind power will be on the minds of many Herkimer County residents as officials move forward with tax negotiations for two projects proposed in the county. County officials have been in talks for a payment in lieu of taxes agreement for the Hard Scrabble Wind Farm planned for the towns of Fairfield and Norway. The Jordanville Wind project designed for the towns of Warren and Stark also has been brought into the discussions in recent weeks, county Administrator James Wallace said.