The President has now signed into law an amendment to the Energy Law. One of the newly enacted provisions allows creation of citizen energy communities.
This law transposes Directive (EU) 2019/944 on common rules for the internal market for electricity.
One of the most talked-about changes is the introduction of citizen energy communities, which will be able to take various forms, including cooperatives and residential associations. These organizations will have the right to generate, distribute, trade, aggregate, and store electricity, but will also be able to provide energy-saving and electric vehicle charging services for their members.
Under the new law, from 2026, it will also be possible to change an electricity seller in twenty-four hours. Customers will be entitled to enter into dynamic electricity price contracts with at least one seller (billed at fifteen-minute intervals).
The act also regulates direct lines between an energy producer and customer. Firms will be able to construct these lines without obtaining permission from the Energy Regulatory Office, but they will have to file notification. Subject to certain security requirements, a company that has a direct line will be able to supply energy to the National Power System.
An additional amendment proposed during the legislative process was to postpone introduction of the Energy Market Information Central System by one year, to take effect from 1 July, 2025. This will be a computer system that collates the most important energy market data among system users.
Other changes include new regulations on aggregators on the energy market, or for example harmonization of the market regulator’s responsibilities with directive 2019/944, including reporting suspected breach of duties by a grid operator to the President of the Energy Regulatory Office. The President of the Energy Regulatory Office will also draw up guidelines on development of a grid and selecting priority projects for implementation.
Author: Michał Sobolewski, attorney-at-law, Senior Associate