Berliners’ co-op aims to take over and run electricity grid

Successful bid by Citizen Energy Berlin for Vattenfall network will boost renewables and plough back profits, says activists’ group

Arwen Colell was cycling down a Berlin street one afternoon when a friend from her choir group called her and said: “We should buy the electrical grid.” The idea was not out of the blue. Germany’s energy transition, from nuclear and fossil fuels to renewables, has lined rooftops with solar panels. But it was another ambition to run Berlin’s distribution network.

Colell did not hesitate. “We should definitely do it,” she said. “Good idea.”

Since that conversation in 2011, Colell and her friend, who are in their mid-20s, have built a movement aimed at putting the city grid under citizens’ control when the system goes on sale next year. The grid is owned by the Swedish firm Vattenfall.

The co-operative founded by the two students, Citizen Energy Berlin, has recruited around 1,000 members, each paying a minimum of €500 (£430) a share. It has raised €5.4m (£4.6m).

The fundraising has some distance to go. A Berlin civic report valued the system at €800m; Vattenfall claimed it is worth €3bn. And the co-operative faces stiff competition from other bids, including one from Vattenfall…….

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/28/berliners-co-op-aims-run-electricity

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