Abstract
After two decades of privatization and outsourcing being the dominant trends across public services, an inclination towards founding new municipal power utilities can be observed. In this article, the authors examine the preservation strategies of the German energy regime following the transition approach developed by Geels. From the multi-level perspective, it can be stated that innovations take place in niches and have to overcome the obstacles and persistence of the conventional fossil–nuclear energy regime. Through an empirical analysis, it can be concluded that the established regime significantly delays the decentralization process required for a transformation of energy structures on local electricity grids. Furthermore, it is shown that municipal utilities (Stadtwerke) are important key actors for the German Energiewende (energy transition) as they function as local energy distributors and they meet a variety of requirements to promote fundamental structural change. The trend towards re-municipalization and the re-establishment of municipal utilities reveal the desire to further strengthen the scope of local politics.
Highlights
In recent years, the multi-level perspective of Geels (2002) has gained further importance in the framework of transition research [1]
It is shown that municipal utilities (Stadtwerke) are important key actors for the German Energiewende as they function as local energy distributors and they meet a variety of requirements to promote fundamental structural change
The trend towards re-municipalization and the re-establishment of municipal utilities reveal the desire to further strengthen the scope of local politics
Summary
The multi-level perspective of Geels (2002) has gained further importance in the framework of transition research [1]. Many projects have been presented, addressing structural changes in the German energy economy and in the role of municipal utilities; several papers regarding these issues have been published, showing a reflection of generic political and economic factors [2,3] Against this background, this paper aims to show how these findings can be analyzed by the multi-level perspective. As an influential and powerful “triopoly” in the established energy sector, large energy corporations represent a collective market power and develop a strong preservation impact for the existing regime in different business areas In this context, it is important to note that many local authorities strive for achieving greater municipal democracy and to reassert local state autonomy by pursuing an active re-municipalization strategy [5]. Self-organization is the key, even if it is effectively not present in classical economic theory
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