And those high costs, in turn, are heavily impacted by the state and local taxes hidden away in each customer s utility bill. Energy costs are a particularly important problem for the Upstate economy in part because Upstate is heavily dependent upon manufacturing. Repeal of the state gross receipts tax is the fastest, most direct single step New York can take to reduce the high cost of energy. Energy costs in New York State are just plain too high.
Residential ratepayers know it.
Leaders of nonprofit organizations, from hospitals to universities to libraries, know it, too. Most importantly and, potentially, most damaging to New Yorkers business owners and managers are painfully aware of it. Industrial companies in New York paid utilities an average 6.5 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity in 1999. That was 41 percent higher than the national average. Utility rates for commercial customers are even higher, and even further out of line.