Sep 16 - Buffalo News

The Niagara Power Coalition spent more than $85,000 of taxpayers' money this summer on attorneys who are settling the terms of the low- cost power allocation included in its 2005 agreement with the New York Power Authority.

Fluent Energy consultant David Koplas was to present some options for receiving the power at a Wednesday meeting of the seven-member coalition. However, the group decided to close the meeting to the public.

The coalition is made up of Niagara County, the City of Niagara Falls, the towns of Lewiston and Niagara, and the Niagara Falls, Niagara-Wheatfield and Lewiston-Porter school districts.

"There are proposals back and forth, and if our negotiation strategy is revealed, it might take some steam away," said F. Warren Kahn, attorney for the Lewiston-Porter School District. "We're clarifying some points."

Kahn was referring to a host community settlement with the Power Authority that all coalition members signed last year in support of an application to operate the Niagara Power Project for 50 more years. Clarification of an existing contract is not covered by the state's Open Meetings Law, and Kahn said the public will be able to know more "when the clarifications are finalized."

Niagara County Legislature Chairman William L. Ross, chairman of the coalition, said last month that some members might seek cash payments for the value of their shares of the 25 megawatts of cheap hydropower they will receive under the 50-year agreement.

Ross has said one of the issues with last year's agreement with the Power Authority is that it doesn't mention "load factor," which has been described by authority officials as the ratio of a customer's average use to its peak use.

For example, Power Authority spokesman Michael Saltzman said that since a municipal building doesn't have the same power needs at night or on weekends as it does during the weekday, "it will have a relatively low load factor . . . contrasted with a multishift manufacturer that might have a load factor of 75 percent or more."

Ross has said the issue of load factor may prevent the coalition member from actually receiving all the power it signed up for.

Attorney Pietra G. Lettieri of the Buffalo law firm Harris Beach, which represents the coalition, divulged no details. She simply reiterated that a second contract is needed regarding the at-cost power portion of the coalition's 2005 agreement with the Power Authority, which also included cash payments.

Harris Beach was paid $86,000 during July and August for its legal services. Lettieri says the closed session fell under "attorney-client privilege," and Koplas was allowed to speak because he is an agent of the law firm.

While Fluent Energy has in the past been paid by Harris Beach, the financial update handed out at Wednesday's meeting included a direct bill to the coalition from the energy consultant group for $11,520, and Harris Beach has submitted a new September bill for $7,844. The group's checking account before paying those bills is at $21,997.

Negotiations on the power distribution contract have been ongoing since June, and the at-cost power is set to flow Sept. 1, 2007.

e-mail: gfranklin@buffnews.com

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