I read with interest your editorial regarding securitization in the April 15 edition of PUBLIC UTILITIES FORTNIGHTLY. As the chairman of the New York State Standing Committee on Energy & Telecommunications, I must take issue with your inclusion of statements from opponents to such legislation without providing its sponsors with the opportunity to press their case.
The Senate, on March 19, 1997, passed legislation that I sponsored at the request of Gov. George E. Pataki, to authorize utilities to submit an application to the Public Service Commission for the securitization of certain intangible assets (S. 3486).* The Commission would be required to review, modify, approve or deny such application. The bill further requires that the savings accruing to the utilities would be passed along to ratepayers. Last month, I introduced a chapter amendment to this bill to specify that such savings would be targeted at residential and small commercial ratepayers (S. 5097).