INFRASTRUCTURE

Businesses in Norwich enjoy many advantages over those in neighboring towns, but perhaps the most overlooked and taken-for-granted amenities are reliable and affordable utilities. Electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater treatment services are provided to Norwich businesses from the City owned public utility. Norwich Public Utilities (NPU)  is one of six municipally owned public utilities in the State and the only one offering all four utility services to its customers

Disruptions to utility services or inadequate supplies can be catastrophic to production, curtail expansion and directly impact a business’ bottom line. Reliability and availability are service missions for NPU; the organization is committed to keeping costs to customers low and offers electric services that are as much as 20% below the State’s investor owned utilities.

“Business enterprises in general require reliable power delivery,” said John Bilda, General Manager of Norwich Public Utilities. “We have an excellent track record in that area.”  And while NPU’s power prices are lower than surrounding utilities, Bilda said that rates often take second place to reliability. “Pricing is critical.” Bilda said. “But often times, businesses are looking for the quality of power and natural gas service, they can’t afford interruptions in their processes.  Our operations and maintenance processes are designed to ensure that those interruptions do not occur.”

In addition to superior energy, businesses in the area have access to all major long distance and wireless carriers. Carriers provide a wide array of telecommunications and broadband services that include local and long distance calling, video, and other data transport services. AT&T continues to build service offerings in rural areas to keep up with business growth.