Thorsten Reppert, M.A.

Successful Doctoral Defense by Thorsten Reppert

On October 20, 2025, Thorsten Reppert successfully defended his dissertation titled “From Market to Municipality: Electricity Grid Remunicipalization and German Local Politics in the 2010s” at the University of Bamberg.

His cumulative dissertation examines the remunicipalization of local electricity grids in Germany and shows that these processes in the 2010s were shaped less by political motives than by functional and contextual factors. Two of the three articles written as part of the dissertation have already been published in international journals:

Reppert, T. (2023): Local-level ownership of electricity grids: An analysis of Germany's distribution system operators (DSOs). Utilities Policy, 85. doi.org/10.1016/j.jup.2023.101678

Reppert, T. (2024): Back to the future? An analysis of party influence on electricity grid remunicipalisation in Germany. Local Government Studies, 1–27. doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2024.2424811

Prof. Dr. Carina Schmitt was the primary supervisor of the dissertation. The doctoral committee also included Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sieberer (University of Bamberg) and Prof. Dr. Herbert Obinger (University of Bremen).

The Chair of Policy Analysis congratulates Thorsten Reppert on his successful doctorate and wishes him all the best for his future career.