Funded by the European Commission's DG ENER.
Since the adoption of the Clean Energy for All Europeans Package (Clean Energy Package) in 2019, European citizens have been placed at the centre of the energy transition. The Clean Energy Package marks a significant step towards establishing a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework that prioritises citizens in the shift to clean energy. It introduces provisions that empower consumers, allowing them to choose innovative energy solutions, participate actively in demand response and become engaged energy users, thus benefiting from the transition. The most recent provisions on energy efficiency, including in buildings, in the Fit for 55 Package, and the revision of the Electricity Directive, reinforced these active roles. Most recently, the European Commission issued its Affordable Energy Package, reinforcing the effort to secure affordable, efficient, and clean energy for all.
The digitalisation of energy markets is leading to a significant widening of the variety of services available to consumers. Before 2018-2019, consumer protection in sector-specific legislation had mainly focused on the traditional supplier-consumer relationship. However, recently adopted laws in both the electricity and gas sectors are beginning to reflect key developments, highlighting a shift from the conventional model where consumers only purchase energy from suppliers. Consumers are expected to shift towards buying services and technologies that offer greater convenience and empower them to manage their energy consumption. This shift involves not only traditional suppliers, but also the emergence of new market players, such as energy communities, aggregators, energy sharing organisers, companies offering automatised consumption decision-making, peer-to-peer interactions, and intermediaries providing innovative energy-related services. Furthermore, consumers will fulfil their energy needs by purchasing appliances like solar panels and batteries or by subscribing to various services, such as home energy management systems.
Amid these new market dynamics and the involvement of numerous players, consumers may still face insufficient protection when issues arise. This lack of safeguards could limit consumer participation and slow down the progress of a fair energy transition. It is crucial to adapt consumer rights and protection to keep pace with the evolving market landscape, ensuring that a strong consumer protection framework supports the adoption of new technological and service innovations.
This Study aims to provide input into future policy actions by the European Commission in the area of consumer rights and protection concerning innovative energy-related services. Innovative energy-related services are understood as a broad category of services, encompassing innovative products and solutions provided to residential consumers (i.e., households) that go beyond the traditional supply of electricity and gas. The Study distinguishes between the following categories of innovative energy-related services:
- Services which are already broadly available to residential consumers (at least in some Member States), but for which ‘gaps’ in consumer rights and protection have already been identified;
- Services which are emerging (and for which, therefore, a characterisation is possible), for which the adequacy of current consumer rights and protection needs to be assessed; and
- Services of the future, which are not available on the market, or are only available on a small scale, and which can currently be defined only in terms of a broad categorisation, and for which consumer rights and protection need to be made ‘future proof’