ALBANY -- A state utility regulator on Wednesday questioned whether a $2 billion investment in wind power in New York by a company that wants to buy two upstate utilities is a good idea.
"I view the wind proposal in almost a neutral fashion," said Cheryl Buley, a member of the state Public Service Commission.
The commission is considering whether to allow Iberdrola, a Spanish-based firm, to buy Energy East Corp., which owns Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. and New York State Electric and Gas Corp.
She said that despite an apparent fascination with the concept by elected officials and the public, wind power has its drawbacks. She said it is expensive, since it requires a subsidy, is often not available when most needed and could be hard to transmit to areas that need it.
Virtually every major political figure in the state has recommended the commission approve the takeover, often citing the likely major investment in wind power if it goes through.
"We should not be doing things driven by popular, very superficial thinking," Buley said.
Buley and her four commission colleagues are expected to vote next Wednesday whether to allow the $4.5 billion sale, which has been pending for more than a year. This Wednesday was the first time the commissioners have discussed the plan in public.
An administrative law judge recommended last June that the proposal be rejected, citing potential problems.
The judge, Rafael Epstein, wrote that the transaction "does not satisfy the 'public-interest' requirement of Public Service Law." He and other critics say having the company control some generation as well as transmission facilities could lead to higher prices for consumers.
But the final decision is up to the five commissioners.
Commission chairman Garry Brown said Wednesday he and the other commissioners have to ponder the potential risks and benefits of the proposed sale as they try to make up their minds.
"In the end, the benefits have to outweigh the risks" for the commission to approve the sale, he said.
The commission is the last hurdle for the deal, which has already been approved by regulators in Washington and three other states.
RG&E and NYSEG between them serve 16 percent of the state's electric customers and 12 percent of natural-gas users, Brown said, across a swath of upstate and the Hudson Valley that covers 40 percent of the state's area. Combined, they have about 1.2 million electric and 562,000 natural-gas customers.
New York ranks ninth in wind power in the country, and first in the Northeast, said James Austin, a commission aide. He said the amount has grown from 12 megawatts in 2000 to 707 now, with the total expected to reach 1,267 by the end of the year.
That's still a small portion of the more than 39,000 megawatts of available power in the state. A megawatt is enough energy to power about 1,000 homes.
A $2 billion investment in wind would probably produce another 1,000 megawatts of wind capacity, according to the commission staff.
Austin said the state has several regions windy enough to make windmills efficient, including off the cost of Long Island, the North County, downwind from Lake Ontario and parts of Western New York.
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