Collective self-consumers

In Sweden, comparable to Denmark, CSC in an apartment building is allowed if all apartments belong to the same grid connection. The general approach for such a solution is that the whole apartment building shares an electricity contract with the utility but electricity consumption is also measured internally by the housing company affecting the monthly rent. The right to object such an arrangement due to the free choice of the electricity supplier can be handled by representation (of the board, in case of housing associations – “bostadsrättsföreningar”, and by the tenants association “hyresgästföreningen” in case of rental apartments). CSC with electricity being transported over a grid covered by grid concession is so far not allowed. However, a governmental investigation was published in June 2019 that proposes to allow for interconnection of several multi-family buildings on the same property. While this would result in an expanded form of collective self-consumption (i.e. between buildings), it primarily addresses electricity used in shared spaces and for facility management (Government Offices of Sweden 2019). Currently, it is already possible to use an exception enabling to “interconnect single parts of a power plant” with an internal grid between different buildings. 

Source: Frieden et al., 2020

RECs and CECs

In 2019, the Swedish government tasked the Swedish Energy Market inspectorate (EI) to investigate options for the transposition of the Clean Energy Package (Swedish Government 2019). EI developed a legislative proposal for REC and CECs. It states that only those who reside or operate in or otherwise have a lasting grid connection to the concerned area may be admitted as members of a REC. An energy community is formed by three or more natural or legal persons. Regarding member voting rights, each member has one vote, unless otherwise stated in the statutes. RECs and CECs, while both having their own definitions, must take the legal form of  an Economic Association, a Swedish legal body that allows cooperative structures and thus provides a governance framework. The proposal distinguishes between non-investing members and investing members. For investing members more restrictive rules apply. If investing members for example take part in a vote and have more than one third of the total number of votes cast in the ballot, the value of their votes shall be reduced to half the total number of other votes.

Source: Frieden et al, 2020