PSC's vote on Iberdrola-Energy East deal is delayed

ALBANY -- The absence of two of five state Public Service Commission members from a special meeting today prompted a delay in a decision about whether to allow Iberdrola SA to buy Energy East Corp., the parent of Rochester Gas and Electric and New York State Electric and Gas.

The PSC had been scheduled to vote today on the $4.5 billion deal, but commissioners Cheryl Buley and Robert Curry were absent. Discussion of the deal was proceeding, but no vote will be taken until at least next week.

Curry was ill and Buley missed the meeting for personal reasons, said commission spokesman James Denn, who said he had no other information on her absence.

The five commissioners are paid $109,800 a year.

The Iberdrola-Energy East deal was announced by the Spanish and U.S. companies in June 2007. Utility regulators at the federal level and in three New England states where Energy East does business have approved the sale, leaving New York as the only jurisdiction that hasn't acted.

On Aug. 8, the PSC announced that the commissioners would begin discussing issues related to the takeover at their regular meeting on Aug. 20, and then would hold a special meeting today.

In anticipation of a vote today, Bilbao, Spain-based Iberdrola issued a press release and the stock market in Madrid halted trading in Iberdrola's stock just as the PSC meeting was beginning.

"We are not comfortable acting without the other commissioners,'' PSC Chairman Garry Brown said. He said he wants the panel to meet next week, but it was unclear whether Buley and Curry would be available then.

Between them, RG&E and NYSEG serve 16 percent of the state's electric customers and 12 percent of natural gas users and have about 1.2 million electric and 562,000 natural gas customers.

Supporters of the deal have emphasized Iberdrola's position as one of the world's largest generators of wind energy and its plan to invest as much as $2 billion in new wind power facilities in the state. Opponents have voiced concerns about the company having too much power to influence prices since it would own both generating and distribution facilities -- something the commission generally prohibits.