Gov. signs Power for Jobs extension - Business First of Buffalo:

a-aveywe.blogspot.com
The program, called Power for Jobs, died duringb the unprecedented battle for controkl of the Senate that lasted for more thana month. The stalemate brok e on July 9, and senators passed 135 billws in an overnight session that ended just before2 a.m. on July 10. Powerd for Jobs was one bill that unanimously sailed through the Senats inthat session, weeks after the state Assembly had unanimouslyu approved a one-year extension of the program. The program suppliesx low-cost power, or power subsidies, to companies in exchange for pledgex to retain andcreate jobs. Now, Powee for Jobs expires on May 15, 2010.
Statewide, 570 companies—with 330,0000 total jobs—belong to the Industrial power in New York is 40 percent higherr than thenational average; commercial powere rates are 65 percent higherr than the national “We must do everything we can to protecyt these jobs and businesses,” Patersonh said at a signing ceremony Monday in “Signing this bill could not wait anothe day.” Under the law, some companies will undergko energy audits, information that legislators will use to develop a long-term power subsidh program to replace Power for Jobs by the time it’a scheduled to expire. Audit results are due by Februaryu 2010.
In 2008, Power for Jobs and a sistedr program, called Energy Cost Savings savedcompanies $125 million in energyh costs. “The savings provided through these programs are vital to hundreds of employers and thousand s of workers acrossNew York,” said Ken a lobbyist at , the state’s best-known businesz lobby. But, he “this extension ... is a 10-month solutiojn to a long-term High energy costs affect many energy intensive operations in New and we urge the administration and Legislature to work with business to adoptg a long term economic developmentpower