The Electricity Company of the State of Bahia (Coelba) is a company that operates in the electric sector.

Considered the third largest electricity distributor in Brazil in terms of number of customers and the sixth in volume of energy distributed, Coelba distributes electricity to over 6 million customers and more than 15 million inhabitants.

Coelba's concession area is 563 thousand km² and covers 415 of the 417 municipalities in Bahia, as well as the cities of Delmiro Gouveia in Alagoas and Dianópolis in Tocantins.

Founded on March 28, 1960, Coelba is headquartered in Salvador. The company was founded as a state-owned enterprise, but a few years later it became private with publicly traded capital on the stock exchange.

Currently, Coelba is controlled by the Neoenergia group, which is controlled by the Spanish group Iberdrola. Neoenergia operates in three segments:

• Networks: Distribution and transmission networks;

• Renewables: Wind generation and hydropower plants;

• Liberalized: Thermal generation and energy commercialization.

In total, Neoenergia operates in 18 Brazilian states and provides energy to about 34 million people.

In addition, it has a concession area of 840 thousand km and has 14 million consumer units. The units are served by 4 distributors:

• Elektro (SP/MS);

• Coelba (BA);

• Celpe (PE);

• Cosern (RN).

Coelba was founded as a state-owned company on March 28, 1960. Subsequently, it was privatized and went public. Currently, it is controlled by the Neoenergia group.

The history of Neoenergia began in 1997 with the privatization of the distribution companies in Rio Grande do Norte (Cosern) and Bahia (Coelba). After privatization, the company acquired the Energy Company of the state of Pernambuco, CELPE, in a privatization auction.

In the following years, the company made several acquisitions, until it became part of the four segments of the energy sector: generation, distribution, transmission, and commercialization.

For example, in 2003, the company acquired 43% of the shares of Itapebi and developed a restructuring plan to create the holding company Neoenergia, as it is known today. Years later, in 2010, the company acquired 10% of UHE Belo Monte.

As a result, the company began operating in the Xingu river locations in Pará. Still in 2010, the company started the construction of 10 wind farms, 9 of which were won in an auction.

In 2017, Neoenergia incorporated Elektro Holding S.A. and began operating through Neoenergia Comercialização. Finally, in 2019, Neoenergia went public and is listed in the Novo Mercado segment, the highest level of corporate governance.