Business group brings electricity competition to small companies

MANCHESTER – Twenty- one businesses as small as a restaurant are about to enter the world of competitive electricity pricing via the state’s Business and Industry Association, cutting their power bills and joining the complex world of deregulated power. “This is something they could never do on their own, or by putting together a small group,” said Mike Licata, vice president for public policy for the New Hampshire Business and Industry Association. For eight years, the BIA has helped large companies buy cheaper electricity through long-term contracts with providers other than PSNH or their local default utility. Recently, it expanded service to small- and medium-size members, 21 of which have signed on for the first contract, which starts Jan. 1 and should produce rates 11 percent below what they’d otherwise pay.