Collective self-consumption and energy communities

In Hungary, the legislative framework enabling and promoting energy communities and collective self-consumption is currently under development. The Hungarian National Energy and Climate Plan (Hungarian government  2020),  which was published in the beginning of 2020,  mentions a three-step community integration to support the goals of climate neutrality by the  end of 2050. A main priority is to extend net metering (or an equivalent incentive programme) to apartment blocks. Laying the groundwork for establishing communities within the transformer zones is a second-level goal. The option of managing “village heating plants” as energy communities is mentioned as a third step. Also, small-scale district heating zones  are mentioned in the context of renewable energy communities. As regards the establishment of renewable energy communities, the question of vulnerable consumers and the security of supply is assigned a priority; the legal environment should allow even a miniature-scale district heating zones to fulfil these two criteria (Hungarian government 2020).
In 2021 a legislative process for a new electric law has started, that provides a definition for active consumer as well as for RECs, however limited to electricity. Effective control of the renewable energy community is exercised by the member or members having legal a domicile in the district or the neighbouring district in which the Community-owned renewable energy plant is in operation.