Public utilities have been subjected to trends of privatisation, deregulation and liberalisation. Recently a new phenomenon has joined this trend, which is known under the name remunicipalisation. Municipalities are taking back public utilities, which have been previously privatised, under their wing. Around the world this phenomenon is well researched, especially in western European countries, whereas this phenomenon stays less researched in Slovenia.
The purpose of this Master’s Thesis is analysing the causes, range and consequences of remunicipalisation and analyse current conditions in Slovenia. The aim for the latter was the conduction of research to determine whether we can see tendencies for remunicipalisation in Slovenia. A survey questionnaire has been sent to all municipalities, which served as a foundation for analysing current conditions in Slovenia and enabled the estimation of the development of public utilities providers.
Research results suggest that there don’t seem to be many remunicipalisation tendencies in Slovenia and that municipalities wish to provide public utilities by bestowing concessions to private organisations. Some examples can still be found where municipalities wish to provide public utilities directly by the municipality. Results also show which public utilities have been bestowed concessions, for how long and when they expire.
This Master's Thesis presents the theoretical background on remunicipalisation and offers a summary of the latest scientific research in this field. Research results are beneficial from an academic, professional and practical point of view as they offer insight into the satisfaction of municipalities with private concessions for public utilities and offer an answer to the question of whether we can see remunicipalisation tendencies in Slovenia.
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