By JIMMY LAWTON

Six entities seeking discount power through the state’s ReCharge NY program were denied by the New York Power Authority since the program was established, while eight are currently receiving allocations.

Those organizations and businesses denied include Bestway of New York, Gouverneur; Light Touch Acupuncture, Massena; Mohawk Advanced Synfuels LLC, Massena; North Country REDC Clean Energy Subcommittee, Madrid; State University of New York, Potsdam; and Tri-Town Packing, Inc., Brasher Falls.

According to NYPA, Tri-Town Packing, Inc. and Mohawk Advanced Synfuels were “unresponsive.”

North Country REDC Clean Energy and SUNY Potsdam were denied power because they are public entities.

Light Touch Acupuncture was deemed ineligible to receive funds because they are a retail operation. “And Bestway of New York did not meet competitive metrics”

On the flipside eight entities are currently receiving power through the program.

Those include Potsdam Specialty Paper Inc., Potsdam; R.T. Vanderbilt Co., Inc., Gouverneur; Riverside Iron, LLC., Gouverneur; Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, Ogdensburg; Clarkson University, Potsdam; Cives Steel Company, Gouverneur; Corning, Inc., Canton; and St. Lawrence University, Canton.

An audit report released in August from the state Comptroller’s Office was critical of the scoring, allocation and reporting of the ReCharge NY program.

“Auditors determined that NYPA overrode several applicants’ scores without publicly disclosing it. This resulted in 36 applicants receiving no power when they could have based on their scores. It also made errors in the scoring method used to rank applicants for power,” the audit said. “For example, auditors examined 41 applicants and found 18 mistakes in how data was entered, causing one company to not get power.”

For its part NYPA has shot back at the state comptroller claiming the audit was off target.

NYPA maintains that any entity denied power through ReCharge NY failed to meet necessary requirements.

“Any supposed deficiencies in the ReCharge NY program identified in the report, including the calculation of retained jobs, are erroneous. As pointed out in NYPA’s response to the audit, OSC’s conclusions are based on outdated statistics, a faulty interpretation of data and a failure to understand the mechanics of the RNY program, despite NYPA working closely with OSC over the last 14 months prior to the issuance of this audit.”

ReCharge New York (RNY) is an economic development power program designed to retain and create jobs through allocations of low-cost power.

According to NYPA ReCharge NY “is 910 MegaWatts (MW) of electric power: 455 MW of NYPA hydropower and 455 MW of market power procured by NYPA.”

The program is open to businesses and non-profit organizations. Certain entities are not eligible, including all retail businesses, sports venues, gaming or entertainment-related establishments, and places of overnight accommodation.

Currently 808 entities are receiving power through the program.