EU warns 18 member states over delays in giving households the right to share solar power

The European Commission has opened infringement proceedings against 18 European Union (EU) countries that have not reported fully adopting rules letting households and small businesses share the renewable electricity they produce.

The countries are Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. They had until July 17 to transpose the relevant provisions of the bloc's 2024 electricity market reform. The Commission's letters concern the failure to notify it of national measures, not a ruling on the content of any country's rules.

Under the reform, households, small and medium-sized businesses and public bodies can share electricity they generate or store with other customers in the same bidding zone or a smaller area set by each country. The shared power is deducted from participants' metered consumption when suppliers bill them, and a third party can manage the arrangement.

Approaches already vary. Germany launched energy sharing June 1, though community energy groups have called its rules half-hearted. Spain and France already ran collective self-consumption schemes and updated them this year.

The 18 countries have two months to respond. If the Commission is not satisfied, it can issue a reasoned opinion, the next stage in a process that can end at the Court of Justice of the European Union. The Commission also sent letters to 26 member states over a separate hydrogen and decarbonized gas directive whose Aug. 5 deadline only Italy met.

This brief is based on reporting by Brian Publicover, published Sept. 28, 2026, by pv magazine. Read the original: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/09/28/eu-opens-infringement-cases-against-18-states-over-energy-sharing-rules/