ABSTRACT
Chile’s long history of rural electrification began in the late 1930s, when rural electric cooperatives (RECs) were formed to support agricultural development in the fertile lands surrounding the country’s regional capitals. Low population density and the rather narrow valleys in which agricultural projects supported themselves largely limited the size of the cooperatives. In the early 1980s, the country’s public electricity distribution companies that served regional district capitals were divided and sold to private investors. The cooperatives remained as distribution companies at this time. Both the private distribution companies and the cooperatives have nonexclusive rights to serve customers. This means that in theory the companies could compete for each other’s customers, but in practice this happens for only larger commercial or industrial clients.
