A Long Island credit services company is among 15 statewide firms that will receive low-cost electrical power through the latest round of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s ReChargeNY program.
RUI Management Services, which is headquartered in Melville and claims regional offices throughout the nation, will share 10.4 megawatts of low-cost electrical power with 14 other New York State businesses, according to a statement from the governor’s office highlighting the 12th round of ReChargeNY allocations.
Including the 10.4 megawatts announced Thursday, ReChargeNY – proposed and signed by Cuomo in 2011 and administered by the New York Power Authority – has provided more than 778 reduced-rate megawatts to 679 commercial enterprises and 72 nonprofit organizations through power-purchasing contracts that extend up to seven years.
The program has now allocated 85 percent of the 890 megawatts earmarked for ReChargeNY awards. Half of the total power that will ultimately be distributed through the program, 445 megawatts, comes from the Niagara and St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt hydroelectric plants; the other 445 megawatts is purchased by NYPA on the wholesale market.
ReChargeNY requires participating companies to reinvest their energy savings in job-creation efforts. According to the governor’s statement, the 15 power awards announced Thursday will facilitate the retention of more than 1,600 jobs and the creation of more than 730 new positions.
Other evaluation criteria for ReChargeNY awards include regional capital investment commitments, the applicant’s risk of losing the business without the low-cost power, the businesses’ importance to the local economy and commitment to energy efficiency and “the significance of the cost of electricity to the overall cost of doing business,” the release said.
A woman answering phones at RUI Management Services’ Melville headquarters told Innovate LI that company principals “aren’t interested” in commenting on the ReChargeNY awards. According to NYPA, the company – founded in 2002 and dba RUI Credit Services – is expected to create 200 jobs and make an $803,000 capital investment in the region.
RUI Management Services is the sixth Long Island company to earn a ReChargeNY power deal, joining Citation Business Forms of Hauppauge, Crystorama of Westbury, Precipart Group of Farmingdale, Ropack of Commack and Hauppauge and Summit Plastics of Bay Shore. All told, Long Island firms are receiving over 1,800 kilowatts of reduced-rate electricity through the program, in exchange for retaining nearly 530 jobs and creating nearly 370 more, according to NYPA.
Gil Quiniones, NYPA president and CEO, said ReChargeNY has helped “bolster the economic growth of every region in the state,” while NYPA Chairman John Koelmel called it an “impactful economic development program.”
“Each round of these allocations continues to provide the incentive for businesses to invest in their operations and expand their labor force,” State Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Utica, chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy & Telecommunications, said in the release. “Programs like ReChargeNY fuel opportunities that can only make our state stronger.”
