Thorsten Reppert, M.A.

Successful Doctoral Defense by Thorsten Reppert

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

In his dissertation, he examines the remunicipalization of local electricity grids in Germany, showing that these developments are primarily driven by functional and contextual factors rather than political motives. Two of the three studies included in the dissertation have already been published in international peer-reviewed journals:

• Reppert, T. (2023): Local-level ownership of electricity grids: An analysis of Germany’s distribution system operators (DSOs). Utilities Policy, 85. https://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. https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2024.2424811

Prof. Dr. Carina Schmitt was first supervisor of this dissertation, with Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sieberer(University of Bamberg), and Prof. Dr. Herbert Obinger (University of Bremen) completing the committee.

The Chair warmly congratulates Thorsten Reppert on his successful defense and wishes him all the best for his future career.