Enercoop
Enercoop is a French electric utility cooperative company, which only uses renewable energy. It is the only one in France in the form of a cooperative. Its founding members include Greenpeace and other proponents of environmental protection and the ethical economy, such as La Nef, a French cooperative bank and the Friends of the Earth association.[1] As of mid-2014, Enercoop has 20,000 clients[2]
History
Enercoop was created in 2005 and initially, as the French electricity market wasn't yet liberalized, Enercoop just had companies as clients. Later on, in 2007, as the market was liberalized, Enercoop started to grow and totalized more than 200 clients.
In 2011, after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Enercoop went from 3,000 clients in 2009 to 10,000 in late 2011.
Nowadays, in 2014, Enercoop has 20,000 clients.
Objectives
Its aim is to create many regional cooperatives around France where the local members can be in charge of all parts of the energy process from production to consumption. In this way the group intends to make citizens responsible for the energy they consume. Actually, in 2014, it has 6 regional cooperatives.
Enercoop's articles of association impose that at least 57% of the profits must be reinvested in means of electricity production. The remaining profits can either be reinvested or can reward its investors.