Enel

Enel S.p.A. is an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel, which originally stood for Ente nazionale per l'energia elettrica (National Electricity Board), was first established as a public body at the end of 1962, and then transformed into a limited company in 1992. In 1999, following the liberalisation of the electricity market in Italy, Enel was privatised. The Italian state, through the Ministry of Economy and Finance, is the main shareholder, with 23.6% of the share capital as of 1 April 2016. Enel is the 90th largest company in the world by revenue, with 140 billion in 2022. As of 2018, Enel is also the second largest power company in the world by revenue after the State Grid Corporation of China. The company is quoted on the FTSE MIB index on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 1898, the production of electricity in Italy was 100 GWh, and had a value of over $56 billion by 1960. The majority of the electricity was produced by regional private companies, or by companies linked to other industrial bodies, that were both local and regional, by exploiting the specific characteristics of the territory: its hydrogeological resources. The state subsidised the construction of power stations and other necessary construction work in a territory in order to increase the production of electricity. In 1961, the state-regulated distribution with unified national tariffs set on the basis of equal consumption classes (through the Equalisation Fund for the Electricity Sector), and by requiring power companies to provide access to electricity for everyone. In 1962, the government institutionalised the Entity for electricity with the aim of making electricity a means for the development of the country and in order to define a national policy for electricity based on the experiences of other countries such as France and the United Kingdom. At the beginning of 1962, the Fanfani IV Cabinet committed the government to put together a proposal for the unification of the national electricity system within three months of the parliament passing a confidence motion.