The AES Corporation (AES) is a global power company. During the year ended December 31, 2008, the Company owned a portfolio of electricity generation and distribution businesses on five continents in 29 countries, with generation capacity totaling approximately 43,000 megawatts (MW) and distribution networks serving over 11 million people. In addition, AES have more than 3,000 MW under construction in 10 countries. The Company operates in two lines of business: generation and utilities. In the generation business, the Company owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to wholesale customers such as utilities and other intermediaries. In the utilities business, the Company owns and/or operates utilities to distribute, transmit and sell electricity to the customers in the residential, commercial, industrial and governmental sectors in a defined service area.