The Electric Company of the City of Terni

The topic of this paper is located in that particular field of studies thatover the past decade have had as their object the Italian electricity industry,that of municipal power companies. This strategic sector of the publiccompany has operated since the early '900, in strong competition withprivate companies.The issue of municipalization had long been the center of the debatethat has developed around the journal Social Reform, directed by LuigiEinaudi, between 1900 and 1918, and between this and other importantbusiness journals of the time.These companies have performed in many cities of Central and NorthernItaly, such as Roma, Milano and Torino, an important economic andsocial function, no less evident in the newly industrialized Terni in theearly twentieth century.In this study detailed emphasis is placed, in addition to the centraltheme, more strictly business and management related, on the relationshipbetween the public company, the complex system of large industries thathad settled in the area and the existing electrical system, as well as on legalissues and regulations, investment policy and tariffs.For documentary research, it was possible to analyze unpublished documentsfrom the rich collection of the Historical Archive of the City ofTerni, for a period that goes from establishment of the company in 1905,to its transformation in 1927.