'Without serious upgrading of existing [electricity] grids and metering, renewable energy generation will be put on hold, security of the networks will be compromised, opportunities for energy saving and energy efficiency will be missed, and the internal energy market will develop at a much slower pace' (European Commission, 2011, p. 2). Smart grids are considered a solution to upgrading the electricity network and to help overcome the challenges mentioned in the above statement. This PhD thesis is meant to contribute to the improvement of smart grid introduction in practice. I focus on the 'rules of the game' of local energy planning, and more specifically on advancing decision-making processes on the introduction of smart grids in the Netherlands. The choice for this country is related to the increasing need for smart grids in the Netherlands, as well as to prevailing rather slow decision-making in energy planning. This rather slow introduction of smart grids is problematic because it hinders the Dutch ambition towards a sustainable energy system. Therefore, in this dissertation I address the main research question 'How can local governance on the introduction of smart grids be improved?' To answer this question I empirically investigate current governance practices on smart grid introduction in the Netherlands, as well as use the empirical insights that derive from this to develop heuristics to facilitate the introduction of smart grids in Dutch local settings. Section 1.1 outlines the need for a smart grids by providing background information on the energy transition, its consequences for the electricity distribution grid, and the role of smart grids and more generally of smart energy systems in overcoming these challenges. In Section 1.2 the research background and research problem of this PhD thesis are outlined. This research problem is translated into research objectives and questions in Section 1.3. Section 1.4 describes the theoretical underpinnings that guide the research conducted in this dissertation. The final Section 1.5 provides an outline of the PhD thesis by summarizing the focus of each thesis chapter. 1.4. Theoretical Underpinnings This section addresses the key theoretical underpinnings and concepts that are applied in this dissertation. The research background has shown the need for creating appropriate 'rules of the game', more specifically referred to as institutions, to improve the local governance on smart grid introduction. In this PhD thesis, governance is defined as 'all processes of governing, whether undertaken by a government, market, or network; whether over a family, tribe, corporation, or territory; and whether by laws, norms, power, or language' (Bevir, 2013, p. 2). These processes of governing entail the collective decision-making by individuals to realize collective goals, for instance, the introduction of a smart grid. During decision-making, different governance arrangements can exist, for example in terms of the monocentric-polycentric continuum or based on the nature of g...