European countries are of various types. In Scandinavian and federal countries, municipalities are responsible for their territories’ energy supply and set up local energy utilities to carry out this mission. This contributes to developing a sense of responsibility amongst local authorities, whilst providing them with a source of income.
http://regional-cooperation.eu/take-local-control-energy-supply http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=5d82ddc85603e45bd143a7e19c42ecb5