EU opens infringement cases against 18 states over energy-sharing rules

The European Commission has sent letters of formal notice to 18 EU countries that have not reported fully enacting the right to energy sharing and related consumer rules from the bloc’s electricity market reform.

The countries are Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden. They had until July 17, 2026, to transpose the provisions of Directive (EU) 2024/1711 on energy sharing and free choice of supplier.

The other nine member states, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Portugal and Slovakia, were not included in the commission’s action. The commission’s announcement does not state whether each has fully transposed the directive, and it has not yet assessed whether national rules conform to it. The letters concern failure to notify transposition, not a finding on the substance of national rules.

Under the new Article 15a, households, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and public bodies can share self-generated or stored renewable electricity with other customers “within the same bidding zone or a more limited geographical area,” as each member state decides. The shared electricity is deducted from participants’ metered consumption when suppliers calculate the energy component of their bills. Participants can appoint a third-party energy-sharing organizer to manage the arrangement.

National approaches vary. In Germany, energy sharing under Section 42c of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG) started on June 1, although community energy groups have criticized the rules as half-hearted. Spain and France, both among the 18, already had collective self-consumption regimes. Spain extended the maximum distance for shared self-consumption to 5 km in March, while France revised energy allocation rules for its collective self-consumption schemes in June.

The 18 countries have two months to respond, complete transposition and notify the Commission. If the Commission is not satisfied, it may issue a reasoned opinion, the second stage of infringement proceedings, which can end in referral to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The commission also sent letters to 26 member states over the recast Hydrogen and Decarbonised Gas Directive, whose Aug. 5 transposition deadline only Italy met.

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