[Apologies to Eurotribbers not really a 'Euro' topic, just intrastate regional debate - a very longstanding one]

Actually I'm not just including the grants, but rather all state government spending for example the 25% share of Medicaid, state agency spending etc. But sure, Albany gets a disproportionate amount - it's a capital with the jobs that go with it. As far as the other state revenue collected there - of course folks in upstate pay various taxes and fees, the point is that the state spends more there than it collects, while downstate it does the reverse. The problem with Take a look at that report I linked to.

Providence isn't Buffalo. A much smaller place, so the university matters more (a quarter million people at its peak vs. 600,000), plus it's located within a wealthy metropolitan area - a 45 min drive or an hour by commuter rail from Boston. And it's the state  capital, albeit of a rather small state.

We pay .54 per KwH.

You sure about that? I just looked at the National Grid page and they report significantly lower prices for residential customers than my ConEd bill ($0.045 for delivery charge, about another half cent in related fees, about $0.103 for the supply charge, plus taxes. By contrast my delivery and supply charges are $.077 and $.0138 respectively. About ten percent gets added on in various taxes and surcharges, and there's the fixed monthly service charge)