Eutilia, an Internet portal and marketplace for European energy companies, is slated to open for business this month.
The consortium of 11 leading utilities claims to be the largest portal of its type in Europe. It is designed to reduce purchasing costs across each member company's subsidiaries and divisions. RWE Systems, Germany's largest power group, is part of the consortium.
Eutilia, Amsterdam, will have an initial staff of 70, who will focus on auctions and catalog purchases for items such as cables and automatic counters. The portal is expected to expand operations to include cross-member spare parts exchanges and asset management.
Eutilia's other members are France's EdF, Belgium's Elecrabel, Spain's Endesa and Iberdrola, Italy's ENEL, the Netherlands' NUON, Sweden's Vattenfall and the UK's United Utilities, National Grid Group and Scottish Power.
