Farms receive NYPA rebates

Almost all north country farms have received their rebate checks under an electricity discount program from the New York Power Authority.

In October, power authority officials and Gov. David A. Paterson came to Cape Vincent to announce the discount program, which divided $10 million from the sale of energy unused by Alcoa to pay 10 percent of about 3,500 north country businesses' power bills for the next year.

Alcoa, an aluminum manufacturer, temporarily relinquished more than 230 megawatts of power when it idled its Massena East plant in July.

Farms classified as commercial users by their utilities simply received a credit on their bills. But of the 400 dairy farms in the program, 90 percent pay the residential rate. Those farms had to have rebate checks cut and sent to them.

"Farms just received their first checks this past week after months and months of promises," Jay M. Matteson, Jefferson County agricultural coordinator, said late last week.

The 10 percent discount might be a drop in the bucket of bills, but every bit helps.

"For a 100-cow dairy, it'll be about $1,000 over a year," he said.

The farms needed to submit more information to the power authority to get the checks. NYPA has estimated that a third of those farms will receive payments of more than $600, which means the money is considered taxable income. As such, NYPA will send affected farmers and the Internal Revenue Service a 1099 form, which lists a record of the income.

To send out the 1099 forms, NYPA has requested that each farmer fill out a W-9 form, certifying his tax identification number.

Michael Salzman, a spokesman for the authority, said 60 farms haven't responded to requests for information and are the only ones who have not received their checks.