Don’t Mess With Otsego?

NYSEG President Resigns

ONEONTA – Three days after state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, announced a coalition of Otsego and eight other counties formed to seek ways to make NYSEG more responsive to the region’s energy needs, the utility’s President/CEO Mark Lynch is stepping down, Politico is reporting.

While the nine counties were complaining to Governor Cuomo about a shortage of power to accommodate job growth, Lynch had other issues – lately, the delay in restoring tens of thousands of customers in the Rochester area after a windstorm earlier this month.

Cuomo had called for an investigation that the Public Service Commission has already started, according to Politico, who was quoting two sources but awaiting confirmation from the company.

Locally, the issue is “interruptible power” – whenever there’s a cold snap, lack of natural gas allows NYSEG to direct major users, like the Oneonta colleges and local hospitals, to switch to fuel oil, which is more expensive and doesn’t burn as cleanly.

Amphenol, the region’s major industrial employer, has also not received natural gas it was promised as an enticement for its new plant in Sidney.  NYSEG has a plan to expand its Norwich-Oneonta pipeline, but not until 2023.

The utilities are owned by Avangrid, the U.S. subsidiary of Spanish energy giant Iberdrola.