Power does not come cheaply, especially in the Empire State.

New York’s residential consumers pay the second highest price for electricity in the United States at an average of 15.64 cents per kilowatt-hour. Our costs are 66% above the national average of 9.44 cents.

This imbalance adds up quickly. The average household consumes 500 kwh of electricity per month, equating to a bill of $78.20 per month per residence. Comparatively, the average American household pays $47.20, a staggering $30 less than we do.

This issue is a detriment to all New Yorkers, but it is especially contentious to us living in Western New York. In our backyards sits the Niagara River, a natural dynamo with a reputation of being one of the greatest and most efficient sources of hydroelectric power the world has ever known. Despite the proximity of this natural wonder, we pay more for electricity than all but the Hawaiians.

The wrong could have been righted over the past few years within the Niagara Power Project relicensing process. Unfortunately, for the common good, it wasn’t. Despite all of the special interest groups (environmental groups, business organizations, hobby clubs and the like) that played a key role in working out the intended reward package with the New York Power Authority, the most important "special interest group" of all – the consumers - was poorly represented.

We were not given an appropriate seat at the table. Our elected officials will tell you that the meetings were open to the public and you could have participated. They fail to see that the process was conceived so you wouldn’t. The working class has to do as their name implies…work. We could not spend an entire day sitting in fantastically boring meetings listening to pithy harangues about the demise of snails in the Niagara River or sinking homes in Amherst all supposedly brought on by the power project.

If average consumers did happen to attend, who exactly would have listened to them? By not being a member of a powerful money-laden organization they would have been completely ignored.

The politicians mentioned here are the very people we put into power to look out for our needs in situations like this. Americans vote for representation because we can’t fight larger battles as an army of singular entities. The politicians were supposed to be our voice and were to create the most beneficial hydropower deals they could by fighting for each and every one of us.

They did so but only to a point, acquiring a continuous supply of funding for various municipalities and projects. Realistically, they bartered only for gimmicks…playgrounds, bike paths, boat launches, and improvement dollars which quietly appease their constituents, but have no true bearing on the ultimate betterment of WNY.

Such insane awards, exemplified by the $694 million deal to the Niagara Power Coalition alone, would lead you to believe one of two things. One, NYPA is a cash cow with money to throw away. Two, NYPA will have to increase the price of power to fund such giveaways.

By taking these paths lacking in thriftiness, the politicians and NYPA lost sight of the most important asset of the Niagara Power Project…inexpensive power. Possessed of some sort of irrational logic, many politicians believe - and have openly said – that it is foolish to think that the consumers deserve cheap power. They believe it to be wasteful and think NYPA’s funds and the cheap power are all better invested elsewhere rather than in the people.

This shows resentment towards the voters and an ignorance of basic economics. On average, every WNY household is losing $360 per year by not being able to take advantage of the Project, which truly has the ability to get our power bills down to the national average. Considering there are just under 600,000 households in WNY and consumers spend when money is in hand, this $360 per household, were it available, would be pumped right back into the local economy to the tune of an awesome $216 million per year.

Over the next year the federal government will continue to review the intricate details of the Niagara relicensing process and will without a doubt give control of the project back to NYPA, pricy gimmicks in hand. When this occurs remember that all of our elected officials had a chance to save you money, improve WNY’s economy, and essentially make life better by simply giving power to the people. They didn’t and we will continue to suffer because of it.