Alternatives to energy commercialisation in Spain

Current legislation in Spain requires companies to have trading status in the market to sell or resell energy to third parties.

The trading status in Spain involves a process that can be slow and burdensome, for SMEs and other market players, due to two fundamental requirements. On the one hand, the daily demand for human and technical resources to carry out the activity. On the other hand, the need to have an extensive customer portfolio to make the maintenance of the commercialisation status profitable.

Many companies are considering creating and implementing a photovoltaic plant to generate energy for self-consumption and share it with neighbouring companies.

In the next section, we highlight some legal alternatives to the commercialisation of energy in Spain that ensure effective energy sharing between several companies without the need to hold a trading status.

Self-consumption as an alternative to energy commercialisation in Spain

Thanks to its recent regulation, collective self-consumption offers many companies the possibility of substantially reducing their energy costs.

In general, the regulation on self-consumption can be found in Law 24/2013, of 26 December, on the Electricity Sector and in Royal Decree 244/2019, of 5 April, which regulates the administrative, technical and economic conditions for the self-consumption of electricity.

RD 244/2019 defines collective self-consumption as the grouping of several energy consumers who, by prior agreement, are supplied with electricity from nearby production facilities to which they are connected.

However, companies in a collective self-consumption regime must meet a series of requirements, such as an existing interconnection or a maximum distance between the consumer companies.

The contractual structure as an alternative to energy trading in Spain

In addition to collective self-consumption, sometimes, due to the configuration and contractual relationship between the owner of a photovoltaic plant and third parties, it is feasible that several companies can benefit from the reduction of electricity costs by having a photovoltaic plant.

The above requires a thorough examination of the contractual structure, its impacts and a feasible cost allocation for the prospective consumers.

Alternative solutions for a trading status require a comprehensive analysis of the specific physical and contractual features of potential consumer companies. This examination will facilitate the creation of a cost-efficient and operational plan in terms of the contract.

In any case, proper guidance is vital, as penalties for selling or reselling energy without trading status range from 6,000 € to 6,000,000 €.

If you need additional information regarding possible alternatives to energy commercialisation in Spain,