Posted:
March 18, 2008
Editor’s note: This story appeared March 14 in the Buffalo News.
A bid by a Spanish company to buy out New York State
Electric & Gas will be heard by an administrative law judge after state
regulators and company officials have failed to agree on concerns tied to the
sale.
The news came in a posting on the state Public Service Commission's
Web site on March 12, which noted that "the parties reported . . . that
they had reached no agreement."
Iberdrola -- a Madrid-based energy giant -- is seeking to
buy NYSEG, Rochester Electric & Gas and several New England utilities now
owned by American parent company Energy East Corp.
Together, those utilities serve 3 million customers.
While federal regulators approved the merger and energy
regulators in Maine signed off on the proposed sale in January, New York did
not.
New York State regulators and Sen. Charles E. Schumer,
D-N.Y., have made it clear they want guarantees that consumers won't face
higher utility bills or decreased service quality.
A state administrative law judge set Wednesday as the
deadline for settlement talks, which could have ended in either agreement or
stalemate.
Because no agreement was reached, the European company
and the PSC on March 17 will enter a more formal legal proceeding known as
evidentiary hearings before administrative law judge Rafael A. Epstein.
During the hearings, Epstein will receive and permit
cross- examination of all parties' prefiled testimony and exhibits on the
proposed sale.
Those proceedings conclude with Epstein's review and
recommendation. The parties then have an opportunity to comment on the judge's
recommendation, and a final decision will be made by the PSC's five
commissioners.