I screwed the KwH up. I was taking it from my bill and transposed the period on the delivery. My charges are lower than yours, .047 and .129. 11% surcharge, $17 monthly fee.

Regardless, this is the least of our energy concerns. It's just a quibble (though the ice boom is a very real problem for us, and it costs us big $$$). The main point is that the power authority gives free power away.

Your most important sentence in the previous post was chopped so I couldn't make heads of tails of what you were saying.

I've studied the ins and outs of this pretty thoroughly, and if I had a chance to vote tomorrow to be rid of Albany and downstate influence, I would vote YES. I'm certain that our high taxes and northeastern liberal orientation would remain up here, but the area would be transformed.

You say the state spends more up here than it collects but as I said, it does very little to stoke the economic engines here. In fact, it just hampers it with all sorts of obstacles. The capital region has received over a billion and a half in seeding for business in the last 5 years. Western NY has received less than $50 million. Bruno's area is now contributing to the state coffers.

Businesses here apply for energy grants all the time that would bring a lot of jobs. For instance, Toyota was interested in building a factory here (we were competing with S. Ontario and Alabama). Ultimately, Toyota went with Ontario, and the rejection of their cheap power bid was one of the main reasons why. Meanwhile, companies in the capital region are subsidized well beyond the value of each individual job.

I've talked to university presidents who scratch their heads at the backroom dealing and pork in this state, a state that sends taxpayer money to fund programs at private schools while it starves the state university. It's bizarre how parochial and cutthroat these guys are. If you were in a private room with people from the SUNY system (not SUNY central) you would hear them blasting the state gov't. In NYC, the SUNY system is considered the place for the not-so bright kids, since the private school mentality dominates. In other states, they readily understand that the state university system is the economic engine of the state. That's where the vast majority of the citizenry is educated, and where incubation for business occurs. So the U. Buffalo law school is in dire need of money, and instead the pols vote for taxpayer money to set up a school at St. John's Fischer. Bizarre. And meanwhile, the tuition is 1/3rd of that charged for public Ed in nearby states (Pennsylvania and Massachusetts).