Électricité du Laos

Stock performance

History

Électricité du Laos (EDL) was founded in 1959 and is the state-owned power company. As Laos built dozens of hydropower dams to become the 'battery of Southeast Asia', EDL took on large debts to buy power from private projects and build the grid, and those debts became a central part of the country's debt crisis in the 2020s.

Business model

EDL owns and operates the national transmission and distribution grid, buys electricity from its generation subsidiary and independent producers, sells to domestic customers, and handles imports and exports with neighboring countries.

Market position

EDL is the national electricity utility of Laos.

Country impact

Electricity exports to Thailand and other neighbors are one of Laos's largest sources of foreign currency, but EDL's heavy debts, much of them owed to Chinese lenders, contributed to the currency collapse and inflation surge that began in 2022, leading to a restructuring of its grid into a joint venture with China Southern Power Grid.