ABSTRACT
Energie-Versorgung Niederosterreich (EVN) is the name of one of the largest Austrian enterprises that produces and provides electricity and natural gas. In 1954, the Niederosterreichische Elektrizitatswirtschafts-AG (NEWAG) and the provincial government founded a natural gas company, which in the mid-1980s merged with NEWAG to form EVN. In 2001, when the utilities market was liberalized in Austria, EVN lost its former monopolistic position. In the light of the long-time public character of the company, it might have been more appropriate to choose a title like Zwischen Gemeinnutz und Eigennutz focusing on the question of whether common interests or self-interest prevailed in its businesses. Contrary to what might be expected from a company history written by its archivist, Georg Rigele has not shrunk back from treating in detail the firm’s main crisis in the 1960s when its top executive almost ruined the company by his dubious practices.
