Energy communities are legal entities that allow individuals and companies to come together to develop projects linked to the energy transition. These figures are essential to promote a fair, decentralised energy transition in which citizens take a central role and cease to be passive consumers to become prosumers.
While the term “energy community” is useful as a general concept to refer to this type of entity, from a legal standpoint it is necessary to distinguish between Renewable Energy Communities (REC), introduced by Directive (EU) 2018/2001, and Citizen Energy Communities (CEC), regulated under Directive (EU) 2019/944. The REC and the CEC are the figures that, being contemplated in legal rules, can produce legal effects.
In the Spanish legal system, both are recognised in Law 24/2013, of 26 December, on the Electricity Sector (LSE), where they are defined as players in the electricity sector empowered to carry out activities for the supply of electricity.
Their regulation is summarised below.
Renewable Energy Communities
Under Article 6.1.j) of the LSE, RECs are legal entities based on open and voluntary participation, autonomous and effectively controlled by partners or members (natural persons, SMEs or local authorities, including municipalities) located in the vicinity of the renewable energy projects developed and owned by those entities. Their main purpose is to generate environmental, economic or social benefits for their members or the local areas where they operate, rather than to obtain financial profit.
Likewise, Article 12 bis of the LSE regulates the rights of RECs, recognising their capacity to produce, consume, store, sell and share renewable energy within the community, as well as to access the energy markets directly or through aggregation. This provision also entrusts public administrations with removing barriers and guaranteeing fair, transparent and non-discriminatory treatment, facilitating RECs’ access to financing, information and the participation of all consumers.
Citizen Energy Communities
For their part, Article 6.1.k) of the LSE defines Citizen Energy Communities (CEC) as legal entities based on open and voluntary participation, whose effective control lies with natural persons, local authorities or small companies. Their main objective is to generate environmental, economic or social benefits for their members or for the community in which they operate, prioritising these aims over obtaining financial profitability.
Likewise, Article 12 ter of the LSE establishes the framework applicable to CECs, urging the legislator to guarantee a favourable legal environment that ensures open, voluntary and non-discriminatory participation, allowing members to retain their rights as consumers and to leave the community freely.
Differences and similarities
RECs and CECs share many similarities, since both are legal entities based on open and voluntary participation, aimed at generating environmental, economic or social benefits for their members or the territory.
However, they differ in three main areas. First, as regards effective control, RECs may be controlled by natural persons, SMEs and local authorities, whereas in CECs such control can only lie with natural persons, small companies or local authorities, medium-sized companies being excluded. Second, in relation to activities, RECs are limited to renewable energy projects, whereas CECs may carry out all electricity-sector activities except transmission. Finally, as regards the proximity criterion, this applies only to RECs, whose members must be located near the renewable energy projects, whereas CECs are not subject to this restriction.
Future regulation
Still pending is the approval of a regulation defining indeterminate legal concepts, such as effective control or open and voluntary participation, and developing the favourable legal framework referred to in Article 12 ter of the LSE and the European Directives. Nevertheless, it is currently possible to set up energy communities and carry out activities within them, since these figures already have legal recognition, and in practice the definitions used in the calls for aid to energy communities are applied. However, the future approval of a specific Royal Decree on energy communities is expected. It is worth noting that some autonomous communities, such as Aragon or Catalonia, have moved ahead in developing their own legal framework for RECs and CECs, figures set to play a key role in achieving a fair, participatory and distributed energy transition.
Conclusions
Energy communities are here to stay and represent an exceptional opportunity to drive new business models rooted in the territory and built on social consensus. Their participatory nature allows citizens, companies and administrations to collaborate on projects with a strong environmental and social component, fostering a truly fair and decentralised energy transition.
For companies, these figures offer a double value: on the one hand, they make it possible to take advantage of the positive public reception of initiatives based on cooperation and sustainability; on the other, they help their participation contribute tangibly to citizens materialising projects of collective interest, strengthening social cohesion and territorial acceptance.
Understanding the applicable rules is essential. Both RECs and CECs have legal recognition in Law 24/2013 on the Electricity Sector, which allows their effective establishment and operation. Although regulatory development is still needed to clarify key concepts and complete the legal framework, the current system already makes it possible to deploy these initiatives, even supported by calls for aid and by the pioneering rules of some autonomous communities.
