Comment on Staff Proposal

Jaclyn A. Brilling Secretary New York State Public Service Commission 3 Empire State Plaza Albany, NY 12223-1350 Re: Case 05-M-0090 – In the Matter of the Systems Benefit Charge III, Staff Proposal Dear Ms. Brilling: The staff of the Public Service Commission (PSC) should be commended for the thorough and thoughtful proposal they have made for the extension of the Systems Benefit Charge (SBC). We believe their work took judicious consideration of the voluminous responses submitted to the PSC when the issue was initially presented for public comment. While we are generally pleased with the conclusions reached and the recommendations made in their report, we would like to take this opportunity to make additional comments on a few issues we think deserve further attention as the PSC refines the proposal for final consideration. In our view, the staff proposal could take even greater account of the hardship steeply rising energy costs will present for low income residents of New York State. While it is unclear how long the Middle East conflict and Hurricane Katrina’s after effects will combine to sustain the current price spike, it appears that substantially higher energy costs are here to stay. We believe that this situation calls for enhanced efforts to support low income customers through direct support to defray energy bills and through programs that reduce consumption. In some cases, higher energy bills this winter may ...