Only a very few people can these days imagine their lives without electricity. The company in charge has been through many changes, the last of which took place after 1989. Holešovice factory had been for a long time a symbol of Prague’s el. energy, later on this role was taken over by a building of Electric Company built in 1934 and currently it is a seat of Pražská energetika Group (PRE) in the street Na hroudě.
Independent after long Time
In 1965 Československé energetické závody (Czechoslovakian Energy Company) was founded and was later divided to Czech Energy Company and Slovakian Energy Company. These huge companies were further divided into smaller ones. Somewhere at the end of the line was hidden Rozvodný závod Praha (Power Supply Company Prague) that belonged to Středočeské energetické závody (Central Bohemian Energy Company). Power Supply Company Prague was in fact a continuation of the former Elektrické podniky královského hlavního města Prahy (Electrical Works of the Royal City of Prague) which was founded in 1897.
Development of Prague demanded in the end a kind of return to the origins, in a good sense. On 1 st January 1982 Central Bohemian Energy Company was divided into a new trust company Pražské energetické závody k.p (Prague Energy Company) which was in fact the former Power Supply Company Prague. What was interesting about this change was a fact that the management structure in the company wasn’t multileveled as it was common at those times but had just one level and that is how it stayed to current days. Prague’s power engineering specialists moved from their seat at Fügner Square to its current place in the street Na hroudě 19 in Prague 10.
System is aging
Throughout the seventies and eighties Prague needed increasingly more energy also because of the finishing of works to metro that is known for its big electricity consumption. The change of voltage from 110 V to 220 V was still worked on. In spite of big investments, as was e.g. building of Central exchange in 1974, aging of the electricity supply system was faster than its updating. It resulted in power failures in households and companies alike and this situation lasted almost to the end of nineties. For example Prague’s transport was negatively influenced by Central Exchange which was modern for its time but later on it didn’t meet requirements. In cases of power failure occurrence, trams in the city centre usually stopped working. On top of that, in the eighties a significant part of electric cabling was moved underground, especially to the collector, which was a financially demanding process and therefore there wasn’t much money left for the electricity supply system’s renovation. All was soon to be changed after the revolution of November 1989.
Heading towards Joint Stock Company
Pražské energetické závody k.p (Prague Energy Concern Company) – that was an official name of the company that supplied Praguers with energy. After many changes at the turn of 1990 the company was preparing for its independence. A supervisory board and board of directors were elected, which was something that wasn’t done in the previous 40 years. In the beginning of the nineties energy consumption was significantly reduced because of negative economy transformation. Many big Prague companies were closed down which also meant a cut of investments. In 1933 preparation for the transformation of the state owned company into a joint stock company took place. They culminated on 1 st January 1994 from when the company had a new name, Pražská energetika a.s. (PRE) (Prague Energy Utility Company). The first and only shareholder was at that time the State, or to be more correct the National Property Fund. PRE’s basic capital came to about four million crowns. Almost all investments were at that time meant for the improvement of the distribution system and for information technology. PRE’s task was to supply Prague and the town Roztoky u Prahy.
From the system renewal to customer service
In following years the company focused especially on business strategy. The talk was about liberalisation of the energy business and everybody knows that luck is on the side of those who are prepared. Gradually, between 1995 and 1999 PRE’s subsidiaries were founded which took over some of PRE’s duties. These were PREmont Lhotka, a.s., (assembly activity), PREleas, a.s., (leasing of technology equipment), Cejchovna elektroměrů Praha, a.s., (branding of electrometers) and ODEM a.s., (meter readings). PRE also focused on customer service. Investments into both high and low voltage were growing and it was necessary to improve reliability of electricity supply. After 2000 and again from 2004 the company invested five milliard crowns into distribution system.
21 st Century
During first years of 21 st century PRE was changing into a dynamic company which provides top service for its customers. The first step was the establishment of the customer helpline (call centre); also information centre for customers was created where you can find such information as e.g. how to equip your household with electrical appliances. PRE took more proactive approach. There wasn’t any more just one office that served to the whole Prague but other city offices were created, altogether six of them – in street Svornosti (Prague 1 a 5), Chmelnice (Prague 3), Vladimírka (Prague 4), Africká (Prague 6), Balabenka (Prague 9) and Eden (Prague 10). Customer helpline started working in 2000. Praguers quickly got used to it and in the first year of its working it was used by about 80 thousand people.