Establishing and managing an energy community

Community energy represents a modern approach to energy usage, where individuals, households or entire communities generate energy and share surplus electricity with others. This approach supports not only more environmentally friendly energy use, but also greater energy independence and economic sustainability. If you share surplus energy, for example within an energy community with other members, you can reduce your own energy costs or gain additional financial benefits.

Community energy was introduced into Czech legislation through the Lex OZE II amendment to the Energy Act, effective from 1 January 2024. Another important milestone was the launch of the first phase of services of the Electricity Data Centre (EDC) on 1 August 2024. The EDC is a key part of the electricity sharing system, as electricity cannot be shared without registration in the EDC.

There are currently three main forms of community energy sharing. Active customer, energy community and renewable energy community.

An energy community makes the most sense when there are multiple production and consumption points and at the same time someone responsible for coordinating and managing the entire community. It is particularly suitable for municipalities or regions where households, companies or small businesses generate energy that they are unable to fully consume themselves.

An energy community must have a legal form. It is most commonly established as a cooperative or association, although a business corporation is also possible. The primary goal of an energy community is not profit generation, but mainly providing environmental, economic and social benefits to its members and the local community.

After establishing the energy community and appointing a person responsible for its management, the community must be registered with the Electricity Data Centre (EDC). The registration includes recording all production and consumption EAN codes involved in sharing and setting allocation keys.

Allocation keys determine how generated energy is distributed among individual community members — in other words, who receives the shared energy and in what proportion. The distribution is set as percentages and can be adjusted over time according to the needs of the community.

For energy sharing to work, both consumption and production points must be equipped with interval metering, i.e. smart electricity meters recording data in 15-minute intervals. The installation of these meters is ensured by the relevant electricity distributor. Electricity sharing is based precisely on evaluating production and consumption within individual fifteen-minute intervals.

For smaller energy communities, management can still be handled manually, but as the number of members, production facilities and consumption points grows, administration quickly becomes very demanding. This is exactly why it is beneficial to use specialised software that makes community management clearer, more automated and significantly more efficient.

Operating an energy community requires continuous work with allocation keys, checking production and consumption data, managing sharing groups and regularly updating settings in the EDC. In larger communities, it is practically impossible to manually configure allocation keys in a way that makes energy sharing truly efficient and maximises the use of generated electricity.

Management also usually includes member records, monitoring consumption points, evaluating energy sharing and subsequent billing. Without a suitable system, administration quickly becomes confusing and time-consuming.

This is exactly why we created EnerCA software, which helps energy communities easily manage and automate their day-to-day operations. EnerCA enables clear management of members, EAN codes and sharing groups, works with allocation keys and helps optimise energy sharing to make it as efficient as possible. Thanks to this, you have all important data in one place and can focus on developing your energy community instead of dealing with complex administration.

If you are unsure about any part of the process, need more information or would appreciate help with setup, feel free to contact us. We will be happy to explain everything and help you find a solution that makes sense for your specific situation.