Unitil Corp. of Hampton, NH, acquired a minority interest inNorth American Power Brokers Inc. for $3 M in cash, and haslicensed and will deploy North American Power’s Internet-basedtechnology for electricity and gas energy sales to retailconsumers.

“This is the way natural gas and electricity will be sold, andit’s here today,” said Unitil CEO Robert G. Schoenberger. “Hundredsof business customers are using North American Power Broker’ssystem to save from 10-19% on their energy purchases. Our strategicpartnership with North American Power allows us to work on behalfof retail energy consumers without the financial risk of commodityownership.”

Unitil will offer the retail energy electronic commerce systemdeveloped and owned by North American Power to medium and largecommercial and industrial customers, co-branded under the name”Usource,” powered by North American Power’s World Wide RetailEnergy Exchange. North American Power, of Maynard, MA, is aprivately held company that has been providing Internet technologysolutions to the energy industry since 1995. North American Power’ssystem has facilitated nearly a thousand transactions for thepurchase of gas by large retail consumers. About 50 energysuppliers, including several of the country’s largest, regularlyparticipate in the auction process.

Unitil is a public utility holding company with electricdistribution operations in several cities and towns in the Seacoastand Capital City areas of New Hampshire, and a combination electricand gas utility operation in north central Massachusetts.

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