The New Hampshire Electric Cooperative, which provides electricity to more than 83,000 homes and businesses in 115 cities and towns throughout the state, is bracing for a strike by the union representing line workers, warehouse employees, technicians and control center operators.

The 85 employees, members of IBEW Local 1837, comprise about half the work force for the utility, which has been negotiating with the union since April.

A five-year contract ratified in 2007 expired Sept. 30, but both sides agreed to a one-week extension proposed by a federal mediator, according to company spokesman Seth Wheeler. Negotiations continued Thursday, with a vote on the latest offer scheduled for today.

“The union will vote on whether to ratify or not to ratify the company's latest offer,” Wheeler said. “If there is a vote to walk, they would be on strike as of midnight Friday.”

The key issues are wages and pensions.

“Pension costs for NHEC's unionized work force have increased 71 percent since the last contract negotiations in 2007,” said President and CEO Fred Anderson, calling the rate of increase “unsustainable.”

“It's not fair to burden our membership with that kind of increase, especially in today's economy,” he said. “Nor is it fair to the other 100 non-union co-op employees who saw significant reductions in their pension plan in 2009.”

Union officials declined to comment, citing a request for confidentiality by the federal mediator. But an email by IBEW member and organizer Matt Beck to union members was obtained by the Conway Daily Sun. In it, Beck reportedly wrote, “Although NHEC is on sound financial footing and their top five executives together earn over $1 million each year, the company wants to make big cuts in the retirement benefits to IBEW members, benefits that were promised to these workers when they were hired years ago.”

The company has a contingency plan in place to deploy private contract crews for power outages and other services in the event of a work stoppage, Wheeler said.

“We employ contract crews to do a lot of construction projects anyway,” he said. “They have the equipment and the manpower.”

Wheeler said NHEC customers should not notice any disruption in service should the union vote to strike. “Service won't be affected at all,” he said. “The electrons are still going to flow. We will have people on call 24 hours a day.”

The company also plans to assign two non-union employees to each of its nine district offices to accompany any private contract crews that may be deployed for power outages. “They know the service territory well and are familiar with our system. We have some pretty off-the-beaten-path places,” Wheeler said.

The company has nine district offices, with customers in all parts of the state, as far south as Derry, as far north as Pittsburg, and from the Connecticut River to the Maine border.

“We have worked diligently to reach agreement with the IBEW,” Anderson said. “But those efforts to date were unfortunately, unsuccessful.”

dsolomon@unionleader.com