Romania’s Energy Ministry has proposed rules allowing electricity customers to share locally generated renewable power within a distribution zone, potentially creating a market for digital settlement and community-energy services. The proposals entered public consultation on 4 November as part of a wider electricity-law amendment intended to implement European Union market-design requirements.
Under the draft, active customers could share electricity generated or stored in installations they own or have a contractual right to use, whether that right is free or paid. Sharing would be limited to users in the same distribution zone, with ANRE responsible for setting calculation and implementation rules.
The proposal leaves key commercial details open, including how interval-meter readings would be allocated among participants, which charges would apply to shared electricity and how suppliers would reconcile customers’ remaining consumption.
Existing prosumers and public projects
Romania already has a substantial base of small-scale producers. ANRE data showed 385,791 prosumers connected as of 31 August 2026, with roughly 4,282 MW of installed generating capacity. Many operate mainly as individual producers and consumers.
A reliable allocation system could support cooperative residential schemes, public-building programmes and electricity services for groups of commercial tenants. For publicly owned sharing projects, the draft expects authorities to promote an average allocation of at least 10% of shared energy to vulnerable consumers. That condition applies to the public-project model described in the draft, not to every private sharing arrangement.
Supplier offers and service opportunities
The draft would require suppliers to make fixed-price offers of at least one year available when customers request them. It would also require dynamic-price contracts for customers with functioning smart meters, subject to proposed conditions and possible exemptions.
Dynamic contracts would expose customers more directly to day-ahead and intraday price movements, while potentially rewarding them for shifting consumption away from expensive periods. The proposed sharing framework could also create demand for digital settlement, metering, billing and community-energy management, beyond the addition of small generation capacity.
Aggregators, property managers and electricity retailers could provide software to record individual entitlements, compare measured delivery with agreed shares, generate bills and help customers decide when to consume, store or share power. The services would require transparent consent and robust handling of personal meter data.
Implementation will determine market viability
Distribution companies, including Distributie Energie Electrica Romania and Retele Electrice Romania, would need to provide consistent, auditable meter data while maintaining the commercial separation of network and supply activities. Shared electricity could reduce suppliers’ conventionally billed volumes, while creating opportunities for service contracts and customer retention.
Similar models are relevant to Montenegro, Serbia and other Southeast European markets developing smart-meter infrastructure and more active consumers. Romania’s proposal does not establish an operational sharing platform: an investable market depends on adoption of the ordinance and whether ANRE’s settlement rules, tariff treatment and data-access arrangements make participation commercially workable.
