Is a Citizen Community a Local Community? Remarks in the Context of New Regulations in the European Union and Polish Law

Abstract

The model of the energy market is gradually changing, which involves a necessity to amend the law in force. Legal regulations must, on the one hand, take into account the ongoing technical, economic and social changes. On the other hand, they may have a significant impact on the direction and pace of these changes. The subject of this article is an analysis of legal provisions that introduce a new type of entity onto the energy market, which is a citizen energy community. Various legal and organisational forms of such an entity are acceptable, including the form of a cooperative.

The term „citizens energy community” appeared in EU regulations at the final stage of legislative work on Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules for the internal market for electricity and amending Directive 2012/27/EU. The institution in question was originally referred to as a „local energy community” when the draft the Directive on power engineering and other draft legal acts were being developed in late 2016 and early 2017, together forming the so-called „Winter Package”.

Both „citizen” and „local” are terms that require further explanation. Is participation in an energy community allowed only for citizens of the European Union? Has the term „local” been defined in legal regulations? What is the territorial range of an energy community? What purposes are served by creating such communities and what role are they expected to play in the energy system?

To answer the above questions, it is necessary to analyse not only the provisions of Directive 2019/944, but also other provisions of EU energy law. Matters are not made easier by the complexity of EU regulations. It should be noted that the provisions of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources introduce a different type of an energy community (albeit similar to a citizen energy community), namely a renewable energy community.

The latest draft amendment to Polish energy law is an example of the implementation of EU regulations into the national legal order. It provides for the introduction of regulations modelled on the provisions of Directive 2019/944. Do the proposed provisions fully correspond to EU regulations?