At the outset of the last New Hyde Park village meeting Floral Park Village Mayor and President of the Nassau County Village Officals Steve Corbett explained the KeySpan proposal crafted between the Nassau County Village Officials Association (NCVOA) and KeySpan in order to save money for village residents.

Prior to Mayor Corbett's presentation about the KeySpan discount, Mayor Warren Tackenberg explained, "The State of New York some time ago through the offices of Public Service Commission (PSC) felt that the way to create competition in the State of New York among energy users was to create discounts and enable residents to go back and forth to different users. About a year-and-one half ago the state circulated literature to every home, as far as KeySpan is concerned, on Long Island and it outlined the fact that anyone using gas and electric utilities would be eligible for a discount, this being the first step in attracting competition."

Mayor Tackenberg continued, "I happened to sign up myself and I have been getting a ten percent discount on my energy bill because I use mainly gas to heat my home. However, unfortunately, we found out from the PSC that only five percent of all of Long Island has taken advantage of the discount. Obviously, the program wasn't working and probably because it wasn't marketed correctly."

Takenberg then introduced Nassau County Village Officials President Steve Corbett who he said was the prime mover on this project and because of this it has been an advantage to villages throughout Nassau County.

Tackenberg pointed out emphatically before Mayor Corbett started to speak that the program proposed was not obligatory for village residents regardless of how the village board voted on the proposal. He pointed out that no one has to take advantage of this plan, but he added, "But all you will be doing is throwing your money away when you could be saving it."

Tackenberg said that Mayor Corbett came up with the idea of the Nassau County Village Officals working as a block to take advantage of the KeySpan discounts. So far the NCVOA has at least 10 to 15 villages signed up for this plan and their residents will all be receiving discounts on their KeySpan and electric bills.

Tackenberg pointed out that the NCOVA has 500,000 members, which incudes all the villages and the cities in Nassau and if each village and city signs on to this deal at the end of the present contract NCVOA can go to KeySpan and remind them how many members are in the organization and NCVOA could then demand an even lower rate for the consortium of the energy members in the state for its members.

Tackenberg also pointed out that the discount would not only affect the homeowners but also such organizations as the Western Water Authority, school districts, fire districts all of whom spend a lot of money on energy and who are unaware of the program.

Tackenberg said he just wanted to point out that the Village of New Hyde Park budgets about $15,000 a year for energy and will receive an automatic 10 percent discount. He added, "This plan then is a win-win situation."

Mayor Corbett said that he recently presented the plan to his village and at the end of the evening close to 99 percent of the residents who use gas to heat their homes signed up for the program. He said, "Our goal is to save as much money on gas coming into our homes as possible." Corbett further explained that the NCVOA wants to make the discount available to residents and businesses

He explained that the "old way" the utilities used to operate as a monopoly. They would deliver the gas and electricity to the homeowner and bill it. The new way is that homeowners will have the ability to buy electricity or gas from anyone but it will be delivered to your house by the old utility. That utility is mandated to deliver your gas or electricy through their lines. LIPA is also mandated by the Public Service Commission to respond to any emergency; such as a gas leak or a wiring problem that could cause a fire. Most of the time now they will just shut off the line and they won't fix it. They have stated that they are now nothing more than a transporter of energy.

He then went through the steps the utility has gone through to come to the change. He said, "The natural gas utility was LILCO then it became Brooklyn/Union Gas. Brooklyn Union and LILCO merged and KeySpan Home Energy Services which supplies gas to residents and KeySpan Business Solutions, supplying gas to businesses, was formed as gas supppliers and the electricity utility assumed the name of LIPA."

"The arrangement of the NCOVA dealing with natural gas discount for residents will be 12 1/2 percent; electricity will be 3 1/2 percent; for commercial buildings the discount will be 15 1/2 percent with electricity being the same 3 1/2 percent. The reason is that the transportation part of the service ranges between 40 and 50 percent. (The transportation is how the commodity is transported to the homeowner or business.) The transportation amount of the electricity is 75 percent due to all the wires and poles, but the commodity is only 25 percent so the discount of 3 1/2 percent is only about one percent off the total electric. The natural gas reduction of 12 1.2 percent factors out to about a 7 1/2 percent reduction. So there will be about a 6 percent reduction off the total energy bill and that is pretty significant savings for receiving the same utility as everyone else who receives no discount, " added Corbett.

He explained that there are pros and cons. Corbett continued, "If your total gas bill per month is $200 per month; the transportation portion of it, under the explained ratio, is $80 while the commodity is $20. So if you take the residential discount of 12 1/2 percent off the $120 it equals $15 per month or $100 per year. If your cost is more than $200 a month then naturally your savings will be higher."'

Corbett said, "In the businesses it would be $18 or $216 per business a year.

As far as electricity is concerned at a 3/12 percent savings it will only save you about $1.75 or $21 a year. However, it is a savings.

Residents do not have to choose both the gas and electricity. They have the option of choosing one of the other.

He pointed out to the residents that there is no difference in the service or the commodity and the only difference is if homeowners sign on with the villages is that it will be a savings on the bill.

The NCOVA formed the Village Energy Group and if ten villages or more sign on to this concept in the next year, the villages in just one year could be one of KeySpan's largest customers which will give the villages greater leverage to lower the bill.

Further, the PSC broke out the service contracts to be separate. Anyone interested in signing on for those, it will be about $69 a year. Without a service contract the utility itself will be unable work on any equipment because it is now the rule that KeySpan and the electricity company will not provide repair services to either residents or business.

In order to make sure that all the village residents are in the same contract and therefore have more leverage with KeySpan; there is a 60-day sign-up period with the final signup date for this plan on May 15. The startup date will be June 1 and will go through May 31, 2002. Within a week or so contracts will be mailed out to each homeowner in the village accompanied by an explanatory letter.

Corbett said that he hoped that residents would see that this is truly a savings to both the homeowners and business owners and that they sign on to take advantage of the savings.

Anyone with any questions may contact Steve Corbett at the Village of Floral Park or Mayor Warren Tackenberg the former mayor of New Hyde Park and they will be more than happy to further explain the village's plan.