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A cross-country comparison is made of the moves to system integration, at the national level, of electricity supply in several Western European countries. Private electricity business firms were dominant in France, Italy and Spain and large generating enterprises and transporting groups grew through mergers and agreements. In Germany, Scandinavia and the UK, municipalities were more common and were resistant to mergers and network development. Several national networks had emerged by the 1940s but hardly any were nationally managed in the sense of ensuring electricity was everywhere supplied from the lowest cost source. The article considers the economic gains from integration and argues that it developed successfully where central governments became actively involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]