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4 - On the Verge of a Second Revolution in the European Union’s Utilities Market for Energy Production?

The Role of Social Enterprises

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2021

By
Thomas Hoerber ,
Alejandro Agafonow  and
Amanar Akhabbar
Edited by
Jenny M. Fairbrass  and
Nicholas Vasilakos
Jenny M. Fairbrass
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Nicholas Vasilakos
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
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Summary

This chapter explores a possible change in the ownership structure of energy utilities through the introduction of social enterprises. This seems to be a pertinent approach, because in parallel to the EU 2020 strategy, the EU has introduced a Social Business Initiative (SBI). The authors of this chapter believe that the combination of both policies can change the ground rules of energy production and provision within the EU, which will be analysed in this chapter in relation to EU policies on renewable energy and social enterprises and their connection to international, national, and sub-national energy providers. The theoretical approach used for this analysis will be Multilevel Governance (MLG) because various actors need to be taken into account to arrive at an understanding of the governance of the energy sector, namely national governments and energy producers. Since the liberalisation of the European internal electricity market, the EU has also become a major actor in the energy sector. New small and medium energy producers are breaking into the European energy market. This multitude of actors prompts the choice of the governance approach. MLG is the most pertinent approach for this analysis because it considers the relationships between government, business, and ‘civil society’. The argument is that, together, these actors produce public policy. More specifically for the EU, MLG accounts for the European reality that international (above the EU), regional (EU institutions), national, and sub-national actors all influence the European energy policy. In this chapter, we focus on the normative objective function of social enterprises and how these fit in with the Inclusive Growth Strategy of Europe 2020.

Keywords

energy utilitiessocial enterprisessustainable developmentenergy generation.
Type
Chapter
Information
Emerging Governance of a Green Economy
Cases of European Implementation
 , pp. 54 - 73
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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