New York City Assemblyman James Brennan's call for power plant owners to provide proprietary information through cumbersome reports is at best an ill-advised solution in search of a problem ("PSC study draws power industry critics," Aug. 9).
New York's competitive markets for electricity are working quite well. At any given time, day or night, multiple suppliers are competing to sell electricity that they have on hand and that they cannot store away like physical inventory. Those are pretty significant incentives to provide power at the lowest possible price.
And it is working. The New York Independent System Operator, the nonprofit operator of the state grid, reported in 2010 that wholesale electricity prices had declined 18 percent since 2000, a year after New York's shift to competitive markets in 1999.
If Assemblyman Brennan and other legislators truly want to help New Yorkers with electricity costs they should do the following:
Audit and cut the array of complex and arcane taxes and fees that accompany electricity bills and that can account for as much as 50 percent of a bill.
Support the license renewal of Indian Point. A study commissioned by New York City, and conducted by Charles River Associates, found that without Indian Point state consumers would pay $10 billion to $12 billion more in higher energy costs.
Support hydraulic fracking, which will both increase the supply of natural gas and be an economic boon for upstate New York.
Matthew Cordaro
Shoreham
Founding chief executive officer, Midwest Independent System Operator