Local, Decentralized, Innovative: Why Germany’s Municipal Utilities are Right for the Energiewende

Lanky, urbane, and impeccably dressed, Johannes van Bergen exudes self-confidence from behind his neat desk at the Stadtwerke Schwäbisch Hall (SSH), a municipal utility near Stuttgart in southern Germany. Indeed during his 23-year tenure, the community-owned utility and its 63-year-old director have been showered with prizes and distinctions for their progressive energy policies. Most recently, the old market town of Schwäbisch Hall, which has a population of 37,000, was named the country’s “energy municipality of the year” and van Bergen as 2012’s number-one energy executive.