Public companies are more common in Europe than might a priori be imagined. Countries such as France and Italy, as well as Austria, Sweden and Finland, are good examples of European states with extensive public participation in their respective energy giants. Particularly relevant is the French case, where EDF (with almost 85% state ownership) enjoys a great popular reputation for guaranteeing electricity services to the most remote corners of the country. In the Spanish case, by contrast, the State’s shareholding is limited to 20 % in Red Eléctrica de España, the company that manages the energy transmission infrastructure and therefore has no direct impact on the price of electricity.