Keys to understand Decree 244/2019 that regulates the technical conditions of electricity self-consumption.

The Spanish Government has approved a decree aimed at the regulation of electricity self-consumption in our homes, its main contributions being: the authorization of collective self-consumption for communities of owners, the reduction of administrative procedures and the simplification of the compensation mechanism for the energy that is self-produced and not consumed.

If you have an electrical network in your home based on solar panels, or if you plan to install one, it is recommended that you are aware of the legal issues that this implies. On this occasion, we will talk about Royal Decree 244/2019 approved by the Council of Ministers on April 5, 2022, in which some rules are dictated that will govern the economic, administrative and technical conditions of self-consumption in the country, establishing the measures to be taken to facilitate self-sustaining energy production. 

Among these measures we highlight the simplified compensation method, to facilitate savings on energy bills for consumers, as well as the possibility for users to use self-consumption with any energy distribution company. In this article, we intend to analyze this new regulation and give you the most important keys regarding the options you have at home in relation to this way of obtaining renewable energy.

Installation of solar panels.

With this regulation, two options are established to place the best solar panel of the moment (Here you can find some options to buy) in your home: the mode without surpluses, where the energy produced by photovoltaic installations is not being fully used, because there is no coincidence in terms of the hours of consumption, or because it is left over.

According to the regulations, with this modality you are refusing to return the energy that is left over to the system, signing a certificate that guarantees that option. The other modality is called with surpluses, and it consists of returning to the network system the electricity that you have left over and the State will compensate you for this situation, based on the savings that you have generated.

Among the benefits that you can obtain if you pour your surplus energy into the network, we highlight the possibility of saving money on the electricity bill, because the amount you will pay for the power will be reflected in detail, which is called a fixed cost. This variable is multiplied based on energy consumption and the negative result is added to the balance of your bill, with respect to what you saved by feeding electricity into the network. This procedure is what is called “Simplified Compensation”. 

In relation to the money savings that you can obtain with these modalities, experts have pointed out that it is very difficult to know how much you can save, because it must be analyzed from the point of view of the type of housing, the location of the property, the contract that the person and the electrical installation you have at home, but with the simplified compensation in a period of approximately ten years, it is estimated that you will have fully paid for the consumption.

Likewise, it should be noted that the compensation will also depend on the electricity marketing company that you have contracted to supply you with the electrical system of your home. In this sense, you should know that regulation 244/2019 makes a differentiation between the marketing companies that are regulated and those that are free market, establishing that with the former the savings will be calculated according to the price of electricity in the market. of energy; while in free market distributors, the price will be the reference because it is a contract between the company and the consumer.

Shared self-consumption.

Another interesting aspect that is regulated in this decree is the possibility that people who live in a community of neighbors have to take advantage of self-consumption, and it is called “shared self-consumption”. According to this law, the compensation that has been selected provides for the distribution of “static” savings among the members of the community, that is to say, that each neighbor will have their quota in terms of electricity production, but will be compensated by calculating that amount per hour. production.

On the other hand, it is appreciated in the Decree under analysis, that the way of distributing electricity among the members of the community is fixed, and if there is no agreement between them, the distribution is made based on the power that has been contracted by each house. 

In this way, if a neighbor is missing, the energy that was directed to him is lost, and another member of the community who would be producing cannot be compensated, so now it would be saved. Thus, the distribution of energy savings will be more dynamic, because if I am at home I can make the most of the electricity produced, without any limitations. 

In addition to the above, according to this Decree it is possible to do self-consumption from a roof other than your block, provided that the maximum installation distance is about 500 meters. In this sense, the best solar panels of 2022 can be installed on nearby buildings so that their orientation is better, of course there must be an agreement between the parties.

Installation power. 

Another situation that is regulated in this regulation is the differentiation that must exist in terms of power in the installation of electrical energy producing equipment. If in your case up to a level of 15 kilowatts of power is produced, you are totally exempt from processing any network connection point with the distribution companies, so the process is very simple. 

If you are between 15 and 100 kilowatts, you must arrange a connection point with the electricity company. But if you produce 100 kilowatts or more, it is no longer considered self-consumption and you have to do the process as if you were a producer of electricity.

On the other hand, it is important to note that this regulation simplifies the obligation that Spaniards had to maintain two meters at home, one that was used to measure what the solar panels produced and another that measured energy consumption. Well, the extra meter is no longer necessary, because you will have a meter with a bidirectional effect that will measure both things, resulting in savings in terms of costs.