Plastic injection molding. Food processing. Steel fabrication. All of these industries have one thing in common: Heavy power use. These operations often run multiple shifts or even 24 hours per day using an immense amount of power. Soaring operational costs, especially utility costs and energy needs, are a hot topic for companies across the nation. The Buffalo Niagara region offers a solution: A combination of low electric utility costs and unique incentive programs like hydropower allocation.
Low utility costs in Buffalo Niagara can be an attractive advantage.
When the Invest Buffalo Niagara team works through the due diligence process with a prospect considering our market, we make sure to discuss energy consumption as utility costs can be a major operational cost factor and a key driver in the expansion planning decision making process. We work with our local utility partners to run a comparison between monthly existing utility costs versus hypothetical monthly costs in Buffalo Niagara. Companies can realize significant savings through market rate power in Western New York.
Let’s put this into real-world terms. Invest Buffalo Niagara worked with a plastics company paying $0.13 per kWh for power in Canada. On this side of the border, that same operations cost would drop to $0.082 per kWh - a savings of over $18,000 each month. Such utility cost savings stand across industries — a food processing company saw a drop from $0.19/kWh in Canada to $.083/kWh in Buffalo Niagara for a savings of $50,000 per month.
Additionally, there are special incentives programs like hydropower allocations from the New York Power Authority that can reduce electric utility costs even further and completely influence a company’s bottom line. These programs are discretionary and dependent on site location, job creation, energy use, and potential capital investment in a facility or equipment. But as you probably guessed, our professional team of economic developers can assist in evaluating and applying for these programs too! Utility costs saving opportunities make Buffalo Niagara a location that should not be overlooked when considering business expansion.
What drives Buffalo Niagara’s clean, reliable, redundant, low-cost hydropower?
The geography of Buffalo Niagara nestles the wondrous Niagara Falls right in our backyard. Over 20 percent of the fresh water in the U.S. passes over Niagara Falls. By leveraging that resource, the region has created a hydropower generating facility and robust electric infrastructure across Buffalo Niagara.
The Niagara Power Project alone supports:
- 51 municipal and rural cooperatives in New York State
- Over 120 large, energy intensive businesses in Western New York
- Portions of neighboring states’ power
Many of the companies that relocate or expand here cite affordable hydropower as one of Buffalo Niagara’s greatest assets.