Table 11 Energy communities’ contribution to democratising energy.

Internal decision-making [45, 55]

External representation [44, 56]

Members control and engagement in decision-making processes

Member diversity and proximity

Engagement of non-members

Usually, members exercise basic control, e.g., electing the boards; additional involvement is less common and depends on the respective community; although members are usually local ones, not all social groups have the same possibilities to get involved; energy communities’ contribution to democratising energy locally remains restricted to a predominantly male group