Enercoop, "Cooperative society of renewable electricity furnishing"

Résumé du document

In this presentation we are going to present Enercoop, which is a new French co-operative that operates in energy market and provides 'green' electricity. The particularity of the French electricity market is that since the 1st of July of this year it has been opened for competition. In other words, all producers can enter the market and the consumers can now choose their provider of electricity. Indeed, in France before this date, the electricity market was run by the state. But in the European context, the energy market tends to be privatized because of the welfare state crisis. In the last few decades, the demand has continuously increased but the public sphere cannot satisfy it anymore due to the high costs of energy. In France, the electricity market is characterized by the fact that 88% of the electricity provided comes from nuclear resources, whereas only 12% is provided by renewable energy production. Although the French market can fulfil the global demand of electricity, the renewable energy sector is not fully developed. However, this field seems to open new opportunities in the context of environmental issues, such as global warming or the exhaustion of fossil resources.

Extraits

[...] For instance some cities of the region Ile de France now buys their electricity via Enercoop. The “réseau Biocoop”: this cooperative is a consumer cooperative of organic products. Enercoop has a partnership with this organisation in order to extend its network and reach consumers. Biocoop helps the development of Enercoop thanks the fact that this consumers' cooperative represents a relay concerning the transmission of information about renewable energy within the individual consumption. Greenpeace France: this famous association takes also part in the project of Enercoop. [...]

[...] - presenting an interest for the society and a social purpose. Principles: - Democratic governance: the sentence illustrating this concept is one member, one vote In other words, all the members have the same rights concerning decisions about management and objectives. - Free and heterogeneous membership: each legal person (individual or corporate body) can be a member of the cooperative. The only condition is to subscribe a minimal social capital of 100 euros to have the right of voting. Moreover Enercoop has a policy of heterogeneous membership, that is to say it wants to integrate knowledge and ideas from different actors acting in this field. [...]

[...] This one has more extended powers than the council of administration or its president. The general director can act in every circumstance in the name of the cooperative, while his actions are within the aim of the organisation. Moreover he is the mandatory of the cooperative, so all his acts engaged the cooperative according to the law and even with the thirds that is to say that the director's acts make the firm responsible for his acts. III) Resources Infrastructures The cooperative has the property only of its administration office. [...]

[...] Another important task of the general assembly is to elect the council of administration. Concerning the right of vote, although each member has the same weight than his peers in the college he belongs to, the result of the vote of a college is after balanced according a rule of representativeness. This rule of representativeness influenced the weight of each college concerning a decision taken during the general assembly, but also the number of representatives among the council of administration. [...]

[...] Moreover this organisation has an entrepreneur role and innovator role in the new field, and can be consider as an engine to open new opportunities on this nascent market. [...]