The EU’s 2030 Climate and Energy Policy Framework: How net metering slips through its net

• Author: Bernard Vanheusden,Matteo Fermeglia,Theodoros G. Iliopoulos
• Date: 01 July 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12339
• Published date: 01 July 2020

RECIEL. 2020;29:245–256. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/reel  

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  245© 2020 John Wile y & Sons Ltd

1 | INTRODUCTION

One of the main conce rns and object ives of the Europea n Union’s

(EU) 2030 Climate an d Energy Policy Framewo rk is the promotion of

renewable energy sources (RES). Accordingly, the Clean Energy

Package and the r ecast Renewab le Energy Dire ctive (RED II) set a

Union collect ive target of 32 percent share of RES to b e reached by

2030.1 This EU target is not co nverted into natio nal targets , but

Member States a re bound to contrib ute to the collec tive target.

Another pivot al aspect of the modern sup ranational energy p olicy is

the aspiration t hat energy con sumers are empow ered and are as-

signed a more ac tive role in electric ity markets. The re cast Electrici ty

Directive contains rules that aim to reform electricity markets

accordingly.2

In promoting RE S, Member State s will need to empl oy various

instruments, including support schemes.3 From the various RE S sup-

port schemes,4 this articl e concentrates on net mete ring. Net meter-

ing is a direct pri ce instrument a nd is inextric ably linked with

state-of-the-art tr ends, such as dist ributed gener ation – that is, a

model of decentralized and small-scale electricity systems where

electricit y is produced close to the sites of consu mption – and the

promotion of renewable electricity generated by prosumers.5

Prosumers are consumers who generate electricity for their own

consumption, a nd also store and se ll part of it. Th e RED II and the

recast Elec tricity Directive do not e xplicitly refer to prosumers , but

they use the terms ‘renewable self-consumers’ and ‘active custom-

ers’, respective ly. Although thes e terms might have a slight ly

 1Directive ( EU) 2018/2001 of the Eur opean Parlia ment and of the Cou ncil of 11

December 20 18 on the promotio n of the use of energ y from renewab le sources [2018]

OJ L328/82 (RED II) ar t 3(1).

 2Directive ( EU) 2019/944 of the Europe an Parliament a nd of the Council of 5 J une 2019

on common rul es for the intern al market for ele ctricity an d amending Dire ctive 2012/27/

EU [2019] OJ L158/125 (ED). See als o S Lavrijssen , ‘Power to the Ener gy Consumer s’

(2017) 26 Europe an Energy and Env ironmental L aw Review 172.

 3See Commiss ion (EU) ‘Europe an Commission G uidance for the D esign of Renewab les

Support S chemes Accompa nying the Docu ment Deliveri ng the Internal M arket in

Electrici ty and Making t he Most of Public I ntervention ’ (Staff Working D ocument)

SWD(2013) 439 f inal, 5 Novembe r 2013.

 4ibid; see also R H aas et al, ‘A Histori cal Review of Prom otion Strategi es for Electri city

from Renewab le Energy Sou rces in EU Countr ies’ (2011) 15 Renewab le and Sustain able

Energy Revi ews 1003; P Menan teau et al, ‘Price s Versus Quantit ies: Choosing P olicies

for Promotin g the Developme nt of Renewable En ergy’ (200 3) 31 Energy Poli cy 799.

 5T Iliopoulos , ‘Regulating D istributed E lectricit y Generation i n the EU’ in L Reins (ed) ,

Regulating New Technologies in Uncertain Times (TMC Asser P ress 2019) 153.

Received: 8 Febr uary 2020 

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  Accepted: 27 April 2 020

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12339

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

The EU’s 2030 Climate and Energy Policy Framework: How net

metering slips through its net

Theodoros G. Iliopoulos  | Matteo Fermeglia  | Bernard Vanheusden

Correspondence

Email: theodoros.iliopoulos@uhasselt.be Abstract

Net metering is a suppo rt scheme for the pr omotion of renewable en ergy sources

(RES) that is linked with s tate-of-the-art trends, esp ecially in the field of e lectricity,

such as distributed ge neration, self-consumpti on and energy comm unities. Whilst

the European Union (EU) Cl ean Energy Pack age has established a m ore coherent

and comprehensive reg ime for RES suppor t schemes in general, it makes no explicit

reference to net meterin g schemes. This raises questio ns as to how and under which

terms net metering sch emes are compatible w ith EU law. Against this back ground,

this article aims to a nalyse the relevant EU law provisions and con duct a comparative

analysis of net metering r egimes in four Member States to demonst rate that the na-

tional schemes ena cted and applied have significantly dif ferent design features. The

article argue s that a more coordinated and specific appr oach on net metering at the

EU level should emerge.