GENCO NOUN (BUSINESS WORLD)

A power-generating company; especially, either of the two electricity-generating wholesalers set up to sell electricity in England and Wales. Etymology: Formed by combining the first syllable of generating with co (the abbreviated form of company), as in disco. History and Usage: The first gencos were set up in the US in the early eighties. The idea of splitting the electricity industry in the UK into generation and supply is a central tenet of the privatization strategy worked out by the government in the closing years of the eighties; the two English gencos, National Power and Powergen, are meant to introduce competition into power generation and were privatized in 1991. If regulators approve the move, the utility would be the first to split into two independent electric-power subsidiaries: a wholesale power generating unit ('genco') that could sell any surplus power it produces to users outside its current turf, and a retail distribution unit ('disco') that would own the power lines and move the product. Financial World 5 Jan. 1988, p. 48