Institutional obstacles to a local energy policy and its management in the context of the internal energy market. Study to the Commission of the European Communities: Identification of institutional obstacies (legal, economic and political) being opposed to the development of a local energy policy of towns

The study analyses the institutional obstacles to a local energy policy in each member state of the EC. A theoretical analysis revealed 7 different categories of institutional obstacles: basis economic and energy data; structure of public utility industry; structure of public utility regulation; activites of public utilities; local energy plans: role of local authorities in energy policy and activities of local authorities. Based on an extensive questionnaire executed in each member state an overall evaluation indicates that the situation seems to be favourable to local energy policy in Denmark and Germany and quite good in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. It is not good in France, Spain and the United Kingdom and has to be judged poor in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Luxembourg