Energy Citizenship and Energy Communities: what is the link? A Case Study of the cooperative ènostra in Italy

Energy cooperatives are seen as a pivotal element in promoting the idea of energy citizenship. They provide an opportunity for all citizens to actively participate in the collective management of energy, thereby empowering their members. Nonetheless, there have been recent concerns regarding these organizations' ability to cultivate energy citizenship. To address this issue, we led study on ènostra, the most important energy cooperatives in Italy adopting a mixed-method approach (N=288 and 11 semi-structured interviews), in which we examine the practices of members through their public and private engagement. Identifying three groups of members, we analyse their differences in terms of motivations, empowerment, and inclusivity controlling for their evolution across times. Our main results show the cooperative is a strong trigger of empowerment for members whatever the level of participation while new members still show a minimum level of involvement and reaffirm a commitment not to function merely as simple clients but remains politically engaged members. Lastly, we also address the primary challenge for the cooperative, which revolves around achieving inclusivity and entails the task of finding resources to engage individuals who may be less familiar with the concept.