The Associated Industries of Massachusetts is calling the results of a survey on electricity costs “troubling.”
Half of the businesses surveyed by AIM employ between 50 and 250 people, and pay electricity bills between $100,000 and $5 million each year.
According to AIM, 56 percent of businesses surveyed said they were unable to pass on the increasing cost of electricity to customers. Those businesses had instead cut wages and benefits or stopped making certain products.
AIM said the high cost of electricity in Massachusetts could force businesses to stop hiring or move out of state.
Utility-sponsored energy efficiency programs are well-known, AIM said, but only 48 percent of respondents to the survey said those programs were effective.
Only 33 percent of respondents said they were aware of renewable energy programs administered by the state’s Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.
