National Energy Company

''This article is about the former utilities monopoly. For its successors, see Energie Verdi, National Grid and NEG.''

National Energy Co. was formerly the monopoly gas and electric supplier prior to its restructuring and the subsequent privatisation of part of its core business by the government of Cattala. National Energy Co. was the sole gas and electricity provider for the country between 1951 and 1988.

History
In the early 1900s the gas market in Cattala was run by local councils and small private firms. Most electricity was produced from coal and hydroelectric power stations, as well as the use of gas in urban areas. This was replaced by natural gas after the Second World War as fossil fuels became the most important power sources in Cattala.

The post-war government introduced the Utilities Act 1951 which created one national energy supplier and producer, Cattala Energy Company. This act nationalised the utility industry and created one state-owned company that managed the national grid and was responsible for electricity generation, supplying gas and importing energy from abroad. It was split into seven provincial agencies that ran the electricity and gas production and sale in their area.

By 1965 Cattala had converted all of it's town gas appliances to natural gas, and was operating a powerful utility monopoly that provided power to millions of households across Cattala. The Brunskills government in 1966 closed the regional divisions of Cattala Energy Co, and centralised all seven energy agencies into one national company. CEC was rebranded as National Energy Co. as part of the 1966 Energy Act.

Following the two oil crises in the 1970s, Cattala began to introduce non-fossil fuel energy sources, and the National Energy Co. began to invest heavily in more hydroelectric power. The country's first geothermal and nuclear power stations opened during the 1970s and 1980s.

Restructuring
In 1985 the NEC had become a vastly oversized and bloated corporation, according to the new Democratic leader Cristian Varmini. He suggested a complete restructuring of the company and the sale of parts of its core business to reduce bureaucracy and costs. Varmini became Lord Celestine in 1986 and immediately began work separating NEC into four distinct business areas:


 * Gas and Electricity Supply (GES)
 * Transportation and Storage (TS)
 * Public and Business Services (PBS)
 * Gas and Electricity Production (GEP)

The restructuring split the National Energy Co. into four departments that entered a period of restructuring prior to the 1986 Energy Act. The largest department was the GES, which provided gas and electricity to homes. The GEP department was the most profitable, as the producer of most of Cattala's electricity and gas supplies, imported or self-produced.

The National Energy Co. saw profits increase by 43% in 1986, but the reforms led to thousands of job losses and reduced investment in the national energy market. Opposition to the reforms was strong, and protests were held in Celeste and Jennai against the new government's changes.

Demerger
In the 1986 Energy Act, the Varmini administration created three new energy companies using the newly-restructured NEC as a blueprint.


 * Energie Verdi: GES and PBS were merged and formed Energie Verdi, Cattala's new state energy provider. Gas and electricity supply was transferred from NEC to Energie Verdi in 1988. Energie Verdi owns most of Cattala's power stations and is the largest energy company in the country.


 * National Grid: TS was spun off from the National Energy Company and created the National Grid, the state-owned distributor of electricity and gas through pipelines and power cables throughout Cattala.


 * National Energy Group: GEP was seperated from NEC and formed the National Energy Group, which was privatised in 1988 and is now the largest private energy company in Cattala. The National Energy Group rebranded as NEG and sold part of its gas and electricity production service to Energie Verdi in 2003 and is now an international oil and gas company with investments in Norway, Syldavia and the Onubis Federation.

Legacy
Following the separation of National Energy Co, it's successors have been closely compared to the once-nationalised company. When Energie Verdi announced a rise in profits of 67% in 1990, it was heavily criticised for not putting the public first. NEG was publicly humiliated by the then-Lord Celestine Lord Winnocai in 1993 when he threatened to nationalise the "money-grabbing bastards" if they continued to "rip off the public and Energie Verdi". This private statement was leaked to the press and resulted in widespread distaste for NEG.

In recent years, the successors of National Energy Co. have managed to regain face as energy bills have been reduced and more jobs have been created by all three separate companies. Economically, the decision to split National Energy Co. into three has been successful as all three businesses are highly profitable and considerably less bureaucratic than their predecessor.

NEC is still seen as one of the final remnants of a golden era of left-wing rule in Cattala, and its separation is often seen as the beginning of the end for the country's socialist movement, which had been in power for 20 years under the Democratic party.