The social economy experience of Enercoop in the electricity sector: study of the coordination under holacracy of a regional cooperative

This article presents the specificities of the cooperative renewable electricity supplier Enercoop, a new social economy (NSE) initiative in the electricity sector. Based on sociological interviews and participant observation sessions, it describes the functioning of a regional cooperative, Enercoop Midi-Pyrénées (EMIP). After a presentation of EMIP’s organization based on holacracy, including its unique decision-making mode called Decision by consent (DPC), the article analyzes, through the prism of praxeological sociology, the impact of this mode on the involvement of employees who can affirm their militant commitment to the organization. If this coordination facilitates the circulation of information between members, it requires individuals to apply techniques that can be complex to appropriate, to put themselves at the level of the group’s requirements and to accept peer control, which can make it difficult to integrate new members.