Essent

Essent NV, based in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, is an energy company. It is a public limited liability corporation. Essent is the largest energy company in the Netherlands. Belgium is their second home market. Essent provides customers with gas, electricity, heat and energy services. Essent (including its predecessors) has over 90 years experience of generating, trading, transmitting and supplying electricity. Essent is part of Innogy SE.

Essent has 2.3 million customers for electricity and about 2.0 million for gas.

Essent was formed in 1999 by the merger of PNEM/MEGA Groep and EDON Groep, energy groups based in the south and north of the Netherlands respectively.

Until 1 October 2009, the shares of Essent were owned by six Dutch provinces of Overijssel (18%), Groningen (6%), Noord-Brabant (30.8%), Drenthe (2.3%), Flevoland (0.02%) and Limburg (16%) and by more than 100 municipalities in these provinces and in the province of Friesland (the remaining 26%).

In January 2009, German energy major, RWE AG, announced its intention to buy out all outstanding and issued shares of Essent. The deal, valued to be around 9.3 billion euros, would make Essent an operating company of RWE in the Netherlands and Belgium. This deal was objected by socialist legislators, who were not in favor of privatizing a prominent public utility. On 30 September 2009, the deal was closed. Since the split of RWE and Innogy as of 1 April 2016, the power generation business was transferred to RWE Generation NL B.V., while Essent as retail and renewable energy company remained in the Innogy group.

In 2010 Essent opened the first commercial fast-charge station for electric vehicles in Europe. The charger produced by Epyon charges electric 9-person taxi-vans in 30 minutes.

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