producing, processing, transmitting, and distributing electricity, with the exception of self-producers—companies that produced more than 70% of their electricity for other production processes—(the same exception was later applied to municipal authorities), and of small businesses that did not produce more than 10 million kilowatt hours per year. Procedures to assess the value of the acquired companies were defined, and it was established that compensation was to be paid to creditors in 10 years at an interest rate of 5.5%. Within this framework, 1962 was to be considered a transition year, in which all income and expenses of the acquired companies would be transferred to Enel. 1963 was thus the first operational year of the newly formed company. The first companies to be acquired were: SIP (Piedmont), Edison Volta (Lombardy), SADE (Veneto), SELT-Valdarno (Tuscany), SRE (Lazio), SME (Campania), SGES (Sicily), and Carbosarda (Sardinia). 1963–1970: Modernization and development of the network Enel's early goals were the modernization and development of the electricity grid with the construction of a high voltage power lines backbone, international connections, connections to the islands, rural electrification, and the creation of a national centre for dispatching. These projects were to be co-financed by the state through the issuing, in 1965, of bonds valued over 200 billion Italian liras. In 1967, Enel, which was originally supervised by the Committee of Ministers, began to be overseen by the inter-ministerial Committee for Economic Planning (CIPE), under the Ministry of Industry. During this period, production from thermal power stations surpassed, for the very first time, that of hydroelectric power. In 1963, the National Dispatch Centre of Rome was created, to manage the energy network by coordinating the production plants, the transmission network, the distribution, as well as the interconnection of the Italian electricity system with that of foreign countries, by adjusting in real time the production and transmission of energy on the basis of actual demand. In terms of rural electrification, the settlements that were not connected to the electricity grid declined from 1.27% in 1960 to 0.46% in 1964, with over 320,000 new residents being connected. In the five-year period between 1966 and 1970, further investments for rural electrification were made, where 80% of the costs were covered by the state and 20% by Enel, part of those costs being incurred by reducing some rates as an incentive for agricultural development. In 1968, the construction of the 380 kV high-voltage connection