Consumer Rights and the Ambiguous Nature of Energy Communities as Prosumers

Abstract In Energy Communities, citizens may generate renewable energy together. As energy suppliers, Energy Communities must observe full consumer rights. However, Energy Communities are prosumers with fewer resources than traditional suppliers, and consumer rights impose heavy regulatory burdens on them. This contribution presents new empirical data on the skills and knowledge of Energy Communities. It shows that while their scale and professionalisation vary considerably, many Energy Communities think they would need additional expertise to act as supplier. This contribution argues that consumers of community energy should enjoy fewer rights and that different types of Energy Communities should be subject to divergent consumer-rights regimes. It gives criteria to tailor consumer rights in the community energy sector: the Community’s scale and degree of professionalisation; the availability of standardised and/or digitalised processes for administering consumer rights; the effectiveness of consumer rights; and the degree to which consumer rights threaten an Energy Community’s community character.