Today, electricity is a vital part of our everyday lives, right from powering big houses and corporations to small mobile phones, which are an integral part of our lives. Every utility company plays a significant role in supplying the power from the source to individual houses using the grid system. The costs incurred while building such an infrastructure is insanely high. As a result of such high costs, many developing nations are facing the issue of power shortage as they cannot adequately invest in the infrastructure. However, in the developed parts of the world, utility companies have set up massive infrastructure that distributes power to millions of households. It comes as no
surprise that the utility company from these nations are some of the biggest in the world. Here is a list of top utility companies in the world.
Duke Energy
Duke Energy Corporation, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the largest electric power holding company, not only in the US but also in the world. Its utility business unit provides electricity access to 7.4 million retail electric customers in Southeast and Midwest regions with a total capacity of a massive 57,700 MW. The utility company derives electricity from sources such as coal, natural gas, and oil. Their service territory covers 270,000 km of land with 402,700 km of distribution lines. The company reported revenues of $22.74 billion for the year 2016.
Engie
Engie, previously known as GDF Suez, is a French multinational utility company which operates in the field of electricity generation and distribution, nuclear energy, natural gas, and renewable energy. In 2008, the company broke the state monopoly and de-emphasized its historical role as a nationalized gas monopoly. In 2016, the company generated revenues of €66.66 billion by employing over 154,950 employees. In a bid to promote low-carbon distributed energy the company announced its decision to stop new investments in coal plants in the year 2015.
National Grid
National Grid is a British multinational electricity and gas utility company that owns and maintains high-voltage electricity transmission network in England and Wales. The company is the only owner and operator of gas transmission infrastructure in England and Wales. The company also operates 14,000 km of electricity transmission lines in the US, delivering power to the areas of Northeast states of Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, serving over 3 million customers.
NextEra
NextEra Energy Inc. is an investment company which operates in the US and Canada. The company generates electricity and is also involved in transmission and distribution with a capacity of about 45,900 MW. The company operates through various subsidiaries including Florida Power & Light (FPL), NextEra Energy Resources (NEER), and FPL FiberNet. With an aim to promote the use of renewable energy, the utility company attempted to purchase Hawaiian Electric Industries for $4.3 billion in the year 2014.
EDF
Électricité de France SA (EDF) is wholly owned by the French state and is involved in power generation, transmission, distribution, and energy supply and trading. The company handles 5 to 7 million customer accounts in the UK by the sale of gas and electricity to homes and businesses. The utility company is actively engaged in energy generation from renewable sources, which are reflected by its move to start the 62 MW offshore Teesside Wind Farm operations. The utility company consolidated its business in France and Europe to increase its presence in key emerging countries including Brazil, China, and Russia. The utility company also operations three of the top ten nuclear power plants in the world.
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