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Customer ownership of public utilities: new wine in old bottles

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  • Pier Angelo Mori

    (University of Firenze)

Abstract

Customer ownership of public utilities is presently a marginal phenomenon in quantitative terms, despite its long history. The first customer-owned cooperatives appeared at the turn of the 19th century mostly in the power and water sectors. Their development was later hindered by the municipalisation of local public services, but today new prospects are arising and new interest is growing around them. After reviewing data about the present diffusion of customer-owned providers of public utilities, with a special focus on the European Union, we examine the structural features of the markets for public utilities and the economic reasons why this organizational mode is more likely to expand today than it has in the past.

Suggested Citation

  • Pier Angelo Mori, 2013. "Customer ownership of public utilities: new wine in old bottles," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 2(1), pages 54-74, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:trn:csnjrn:v:2:i:1:p:54-74
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Luigi Mastronardi & Luca Romagnoli, 2020. "Community-Based Cooperatives: A New Business Model for the Development of Italian Inner Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Marina Schenkel, 2013. "Lo sviluppo partir? dai territori?," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(2), pages 202-206.
    3. Holstenkamp, Lars & Kahla, Franziska, 2016. "What are community energy companies trying to accomplish? An empirical investigation of investment motives in the German case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 112-122.
    4. Laura Abrardi & Luca Colombo & Pier Angelo Mori, 2016. "Customer Ownership And Quality Provision In Public Services Under Asymmetric Information," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(3), pages 1499-1518, July.
    5. Pier Angelo MORI, 2014. "Community And Cooperation: The Evolution Of Cooperatives Towards New Models Of Citizens' Democratic Participation In Public Services Provision," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 85(3), pages 327-352, September.
    6. Meade, Richard & Söderberg, Magnus, 2020. "Is welfare higher when utilities are owned by customers instead of investors? Evidence from electricity distribution in New Zealand," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Carlo Borzaga & Silvia Sacchetti, 2015. "Why Social Enterprises Are Asking to Be Multi-stakeholder and Deliberative: An Explanation around the Costs of Exclusion," Euricse Working Papers 1575, Euricse (European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises).
    8. Holstenkamp, Lars, 2019. "What do we know about cooperative sustainable electrification in the global South? A synthesis of the literature and refined social-ecological systems framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 307-320.
    9. Nicola Doni & Pier Angelo Mori, 2014. "Pricing and Price Regulation in a Costumer-Owned Monopoly," Euricse Working Papers 1470, Euricse (European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises).
    10. Richard Meade & Magnus Soderberg, 2017. "Welfare-Maximising Investors? – Utility Firm Performance with Heterogeneous Quality Preferences and Endogenous Ownership," Working Papers 2017-09, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    11. Luigi Mastronardi & Vincenzo Giaccio & Luca Romagnoli, 2019. "Community-Based Cooperatives as an innovative partnership to contrast inner areas decline," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 21(2), pages 195-216.
    12. Kahla, Franziska & Holstenkamp, Lars & Müller, Jakob R. & Degenhart, Heinrich, 2017. "Entwicklung und Stand von Bürgerenergiegesellschaften und Energiegenossenschaften in Deutschland [Development and State of Community Energy Companies and Energy Cooperatives in Germany]," MPRA Paper 81261, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Athena Piterou & Anne‐Marie Coles, 2021. "A review of business models for decentralised renewable energy projects," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 1468-1480, March.
    14. Mumtaz Derya Tarhan, 2015. "Renewable Energy Cooperatives: A Review of Demonstrated Impacts and Limitations," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 4(1), pages 104-120, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cooperative enterprises; credit cooperatives;

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship
    • L44 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Antitrust Policy and Public Enterprise, Nonprofit Institutions, and Professional Organizations

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