Politics on the Hudson

The state Public Service Commission voted unanimously this afternoon to sell two upstate New York utilities to Spanish-based Iberdrola SA as the company has pledged to invest $2 billion in renewable energy projects in the state.

The long-awaited vote came after months of wrangling by the commission and the sudden resignation of one of its board members last week.

The approval means that Iberdrola will have the go ahead to purchase Energy East, the holding company for Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. and New York State Electric and Gas Corp.

Board members said the sale will likely mean a five percent reduction in energy costs to consumers.

The commission has been weighing for more than a year whether Iberdrola should be allowed to buy Energy East. The two companies have settled on a price of $4.5 billion on the deal, which has been approved by regulators in Washington and three other states.

The commission’s approval was the last remaining hurdle.

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.

Last week, board member Robert Curry was ill and missed the vote and Cheryl Buley announced her resignation in order to get married.

The vote was rescheduled for today.

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.

But opponents have worried about giving the company too much power to influence prices since it would own both generating and distribution facilities – something the commission generally prohibits.

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