Tohoku Electric Power Company, Inc. (Tohoku Electric Power) serves nearly five million residences and one million commercial and industrial customers in the Tohoku region, which comprises the seven northernmost prefectures of Japan's main island of Honshu. The region contains 20% of Japan's land and 10% of its population, but accounts for only 6% of its GNP. With its mountainous landscape and heavy winter snow, Tohoku has lagged behind the rest of Japan in terms of industrial development. The region is still largely rural and is known as Japan's furusato or country home. However, the city of Sendai in Miyagi prefecture has boomed in recent years to rival the southern Japanese centers. Tohoku's climate and the inaccessibility of many parts of the region has presented Tohoku Electric Power with special problems.

Privatization is the light at the end of the tunnel for Companhia Energetica de Sao Paulo, one of Brazil's largest power generators. Known as CESP, the company is the largest generator of electricity used in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. CESP's six hydroelectric facilities (57 generation units) have a capacity of more than 7,456 MW. It gets most of its revenues from distribution utilities. Sao Paulo state government-controlled CESP previously had 22 power plants, but it spun off two generating companies and a transmission company in 1999. The slimmer CESP was targeted for auction, but the state government postponed the sale. CESP is restructuring its debt and is focusing on operational efficiency.

Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power) supplies wholesale electric power. The authority has a generating capacity of 2,069 MW through its interests in nuclear and fossil-fueled plants. Some 43% of the energy MEAG Power delivers comes from its nuclear plants. MEAG Power transmits electricity to 49 municipal and one county distribution systems across Georgia that in turn serve some 600,000 consumers. MEAG Power utilizes a transmission network that is co-owned by all the power suppliers in Georgia, though it plans to join a regional transmission organization (RTO).

Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is a leading electricity utility in Ireland, providing electricity generation, distribution, and supply. The state-owned company has several divisions that operate independently in the electricity market. Its ESB Power Generation unit operates 13 power stations in Ireland. Its generation plants have an installed capacity of more than 4,650 MW and serve a customer base of about 2 million. The group's ESB Networks owns the high-voltage transmission network and other distribution systems. ESB International develops power projects, including renewable energy plants worldwide; the company has installed 77 MW of wind farms in Ireland, and in 2010 acquired a 35 MW wind farm in Wales.

Minnesota Power can keep both Vikings and Packers warm. The utility, an operating unit of ALLETE, provides electricity to about 144,000 customers in northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin, as well as wholesale electricity to 16 municipal systems. Large industrial customers include Boise White Paper (a subsidiary of Boise Cascade) and Hibbing Taconite (a joint venture owned by ArcelorMittal, Cliffs, and US Steel). Its largest purchasing contract is with the Square Butte Electric Co-op in North Dakota -- Minnesota Power gets half of Square Butte's output -- but the company is attempting to transition from Square Butte's traditionally coal-generated energy to wind power.

AES is one of the world's leading independent power producers. The company has interests in more than 120 generation facilities in about 30 countries throughout the Americas, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East that give it a combined net generating capacity of 40,300 MW. AES sells electricity to utilities and other energy marketers through wholesale contracts or on the spot market. AES also sells power directly to customers worldwide through its interests in distribution utilities, mainly in Latin America. In 2009 the company had 1,900 MW of power plants under development in four countries.

Energy Northwest provides electricity to public utility districts (PUDs) and municipalities in the northwestern US. The company, which is owned by the utilities it serves, has interests in nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power generation facilities. Energy Northwest is a joint operating agency comprised of about 30 member public utilities from across the state of Washington. Its four electricity generating stations are Columbia Generating Station, Nine Canyon Wind Project, Packwood Lake Hydroelectric Project, and the White Bluffs Solar Station. The company has a total generating capacity of 1,400 MW.

EDP-Energias de Portugal, S.A. engages in the generation, supply, and distribution of electricity. It operates hydroelectric and thermal power stations, as well as wind, coal, and natural gas combined cycle power plants. EDP-Energia also involves in the supply and distribution of natural gas. It primarily operates in Portugal, Spain, France, Brazil, and the United States. EDP-Energia was incorporated in 1976 and is based in Lisbon, Portugal

South East Water distributes water to some 2.1 million people in England's South East region. The company provides 565 million liters of drinking water daily. Its service territory includes Berkshire, Hampshire, Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, and its Dynamco unit provides engineering services for water companies. The company offers customers its E-metering service, an online application enabling customers to track and view the status of their water consumption; it also conducts water efficiency audits for its customers. In 2006 South East Water, formerly owned by Australia's Macquarie Bank, was bought by Hastings Diversified Utilities Fund, and Utilities Trust of Australia. It acquired Mid Kent Water in 2007.

Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (Piedmont Power) generates, purchases, and transmits wholesale electricity on behalf of its 10 member municipal utilities, which distribute the power to nearly 95,000 retail customers in northwestern South Carolina. These ten utilities serve the cities of Abbeville, Clinton, Easley, Gaffney, Greer, Laurens, Newberry, Rock Hill, Union, and Westminster. Piedmont Power was created to buy an ownership interest in the Catawba Nuclear Station in York County, South Carolina, in order to secure a reliable source of electric generation for its member utilities.The agency currently owns a 25% stake in the Catawba plant.

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