Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-11T14:05:08.174Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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
Get access

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agafonow, A. (2015). Value creation, value capture, and value devolution: where do social enterprises stand? Administration & Society, 47 (8), 1038–1060.Google Scholar
Agafonow, A. (2019). From hybrid organizations to social-purpose hierarchies: toward a transaction cost economics of social enterprises. Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, published ahead of print: 1–20. doi: 10.1177/0260107919846791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agafonow, A. and Donaldson, C. (2015). The economic rationale behind the social business model: a research agenda. Social Business, 5 (1), 5–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bache, I. and Flinders, M., eds. (2004). Multi-level Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bacq, S. and Janssen, F. (2011). The multiple faces of social entrepreneurship: a review of definitional issues based on geographical and thematic criteria. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 23 (5–6), 373–403.Google Scholar
Barnes, P., Hoerber, T., eds. (2013) Sustainability Discourse in the European Union - Reconciliation of Energy and Environmental Policies. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bauwens, T. (2016). Explaining the diversity of motivations behind community renewable energy. Energy Policy, 93 (June), 278–290.Google Scholar
Bauwens, T., Gotchev, B. and Holstenkamp, L. (2016). What drives the development of community energy in Europe? The case of wind power cooperatives. Energy Research & Social Science, 13 (March), 136–147.Google Scholar
Berg, S. V. and Tschirhart, J. (1988). Natural Monopoly Regulation. Principles and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Boiteux, M. (1971). On the management of public monopolies subject to budgetary constraints. Journal of Economic Theory, 3 (3), 219–240.Google Scholar
Brown, E. and Slivinski, A. (2006). Nonprofit organizations and the market. In Powell, W. W. and Steinberg, R., eds., The Nonprofit Sector. A Research Handbook, 2nd edn. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 140–158.Google Scholar
Buchanan, J. (1965). An economic theory of clubs. Economica, 32 (125), 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CEC (2006). Services of general economic interest. Opinion prepared by the state aid group of EAGCP. Brussels.Google Scholar
CEC (2009). Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/ECGoogle Scholar
CEC (2010). Communication from the Commission: Europe 2020, a strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Brussels.Google Scholar
CEC (2011). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Social Business Initiative: Creating a favourable climate for social enterprises, key stakeholders in the social economy and innovation. Brussels.Google Scholar
CEC (2013). Social Economy and Social Entrepreneurship. Social Europe Guide Volume 4. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.Google Scholar
CEC (2014). A map of social enterprises and their ecosystems in Europe. Brussels.Google Scholar
Conzelmann, T. and Smith, R., eds. (2008). Multi-Level Governance in the European Union: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead. Baden-Baden: Nomos.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Defourny, J. and Nyssens, M. (2010). Conceptions of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship in Europe and the United States: convergences and divergences. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 1 (1), 32–53.Google Scholar
European Commission (2014). A Map of Social Enterprises and Their Ecosystems in Europe. Brussels.Google Scholar
European Union (1997). Directive 96/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 Concerning Common Rules for the Internal Market in Electricity. Official Journal of the European Communities, 40 (January): 20–29.Google Scholar
European Union (2003). Directive 2003/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2003 Concerning Common Rules for the Internal Market in Electricity and Repealing Directive 96/92/EC. Official Journal of the European Communities, 46 (July): 37–55.Google Scholar
European Union (2012). Consolidated version of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union. Official Journal of the European Communities, 55 (October): 1–407.Google Scholar
Fairbrass, J. and Jordan, A. (2004). Multi-level governance and environmental policy. In Bache, I. and Flinders, M., eds., Multi-level Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 147–164.Google Scholar
Georgescu-Roegen, N. (1979) La décroissance - Entropie – Écologie - Économie. Paris: Editions Sang de la terre.Google Scholar
Grossman, P. Z. and Cole, D. H., eds. (2003). The End Natural Monopoly: Deregulation and Competition in the electric power industry. Oxford: Elsevier Science.Google Scholar
Hansmann, H.B. (1980). The role of nonprofit enterprise. The Yale Law Journal, 89 (5), 835–901.Google Scholar
Hansmann, H.B. (1996). The Ownership of Enterprise. Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hansmann, H.B (2000). Nonprofit firms. In The Ownership of Enterprise, 227–245. Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Henry, C., Matheu, M. and Jeunmaitre, A., eds. (2001). Regulation of Network Utilities: The European Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoerber, T. C. (2013). The Origins of Energy and Environmental Policy in Europe: The Beginnings of a European Environmental Conscience. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hoerber, T. C. (2014). A Converging Post-War European Discourse - War Experience, Changing Security Concepts, and Research and Education. Lanham: Lexington.Google Scholar
Hooghe, L. and Marks, G., eds. (2001). Multi-level Governance and European Integration. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Hooghe, L. and Marks, G. (2003). Unraveling the central state, but how? Types of multi-level governance. American Political Science Review, 97 (2), 233–243.Google Scholar
Hotelling, H. (1938). The general welfare in relation to problems of taxation and of railway and utility rates. Econometrica, 6 (3), 242–269.Google Scholar
Huybrechts, B. and Mertens, S. (2014). The relevance of the cooperative model in the field of renewable energy. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 85 (2), 193–212.Google Scholar
James, E. and Rose-Ackerman, S. (2013). The Nonprofit Enterprise in Market Economics. London and New York: Harwood Academic Publishers and Routledge.Google Scholar
Jessop, B. (2004). Multi-level governance and multi-level metagovernance. In Bache, I. and Flinders, M., eds, Multi-level Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 49–74.Google Scholar
Jordan, A. (2001). The European Union: an evolving system of multi-level governance … or government? Policy and Politics, 29(2), 193–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, A. and Schout, A., eds. (2006). The Coordination of the European Union: Exploring the Capacities of Networked Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Knill, C. and Tosun, J. (2008). Emerging patterns of multi-level governance in EU Environmental Policy. In Conzelmann, T. and Smith, R., eds., Multi-level Governance in the European Union: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead. Baden Baden: Nomos, pp. 145–162.Google Scholar
Kohler-Koch, B. and Eising, R., eds. (1999). The transformation of governance in the European Union. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kohler-Koch, B. and Larat, F., eds. (2009). European multi-level governance: contrasting images in national research. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Kohler-Koch, B. and Rittberger, B. (2006). The 'governance turn' in EU studies. Journal of Common Market Studies, 44 (Special Issue), pp. 27–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kwoka, J. E. (2006). The role of competition in natural monopoly: costs, public ownership, and regulation. Review of Industrial Organization, 29 (1–2), 127–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Grand, J. (2003). Motivation, Agency, and Public Policy: Of Knights and Knaves, Pawns and Queens. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Le Grand, J. (2007). The Other Invisible Hand: Delivering Public Services Through Choice and Competition. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Lewiner, C. (2014). European Energy Markets Observatory. Paris.Google Scholar
Marks, G. (1993). Structural policy and multi-level governance in the EC. In Cafruny, A. and Rosenthal, G., eds., The State of the European Community: The Maastricht Debate and Beyond. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, pp. 391–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, G. (1996). An actor-centred approach to multi-level governance. Regional and Federal Studies, 6 (2): 20–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, G. and Hooghe, L. (2004). Contrasting visions of multi-level governance. In Bache, I. and Flinders, M., eds., Multi-level Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 15–30.Google Scholar
Martin, C. and Nelles, H. V. (2007). Nationalisation and privatisation: ownership, markets and the scope for introducing competition into the electricity supply industry. Revue Economique, 58 (1), 277–293.Google Scholar
McNabb, D. E. (2005). Public Utilities. Management Challenges for the 21st Century. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing.Google Scholar
Minkoff, D. C. and Powell, W. W. (2006). Nonprofit mission: constancy, responsiveness, or deflection? In Powell, W. W. and Steinberg, R., eds., The Nonprofit Sector. A Research Handbook, 2nd edn. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, pp. 591–611.Google Scholar
Mosca, M. (2008). On the origins of the concept of natural monopoly: economies of scale and competition. The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 15 (2), 317–353.Google Scholar
Moss, D. L., ed. (2005). Network Access, Regulation and Antitrust. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Newhouse, J. P. (1970). Toward a theory of nonprofit institutions: an economic model of a hospital. The American Economic Review, 60 (1), 64–74.Google Scholar
Ostrom, E. (2010). Beyond markets and states: polycentric governance of complex economic systems, The American Economic Review, 100 (3), 641–672.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Padgett, S. (1992). The single European energy market: the politics of realization. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 30 (1), 53–76.Google Scholar
Peters, B. and Pierre, J. (2004). Multi-level governance and democracy: a Faustian bargain? In Bache, I. and Flinders, M., eds., Multi-level Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 75–89.Google Scholar
Piattoni, S. (2009). Multi-level governance: a historical and conceptual analysis. Journal of European Public Policy, 31 (2), 163–180.Google Scholar
Rifkin, J. (2011). The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World. Palgrave Macmillan. New York.Google Scholar
Rosenau, J. (2004). Contrasting visions of multi-level governance. In Bache, I. and Flinders, M., eds., Multi-level Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 31–48.Google Scholar
Santos, F. M. (2012). A positive theory of social entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Ethics, 111(3), 335–351.Google Scholar
Slim, A. (2013). The Impact of De-Growth (La Décroissance) on the Discourse of Sustainability. In Barnes, P. and Hoerber, T.C., eds., Sustainable Development and Governance in Europe: The Evolution of the Discourse on Sustainability. Oxford and New York: Routledge, pp. 48–60.Google Scholar
Steinberg, R. (2006). Economic theories of nonprofit organizations. In Powell, W.W. and Steinberg, R., eds., The Nonprofit Sector. A Research Handbook. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 117–139.Google Scholar
van der Horst, D. (2008). social enterprise and renewable energy: emerging initiatives and communities of practice. Social Enterprise Journal, 4 (3), 171–185.Google Scholar
Weisbrod, B. A. and Schlesinger, M. (1986). Public, private, nonprofit ownership and the response to asymmetric information: the case of nursing homes. In Ros-Ackermann, S., eds., The Economics of Nonprofit Institutions. Studies in Structure and Policy. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 133–151.Google Scholar
World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Windhoff-Héritier, A. and Rhodes, M., eds. (2011). New Modes of Governance in Europe: Governing in the Shadow of Hierarchy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Yunus, M. and Weber, K. (2007). Creating A World without Poverty. Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. New York: Public Affairs.Google Scholar
Yunus, M. and Weber, K. (2010). Building Social Business. The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs. New York: Public Affairs.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×