Energy Policies
Law 24/2013 (Electricity Act), of December 26, is the main piece of legislation governing the electricity market in Spain. This Law establishes “the regulation of the electricity sector to guarantee the electricity supply and adaptation to consumers’ needs in terms of safety, quality, efficiency, transparency, objectivity and minimum cost.
The activities involved in the supply of electricity covered are: generation, transmission, distribution, energy recharging services, commercialization and Intra-Community and international exchanges, as well as the economic and technical management of the electricity system”. It establishes, among others, the rights and duties of operators and authorities, which authorisations and permits are required, the legal framework for activities and the applicable offences and sanctions.
In addition, it is important to highlight that “Art. 8 distinguishes between regulated and non-regulated activities. Regulated activities are (transmission, distribution and economic and technical management of the system) and its economic and operating regime shall conform to the provisions of this Law”. On the other hand, unregulated activities are conducted on the free market, which is open to all economic agents and the economic aspects of electricity generation, distribution, supply and transmission are regulated at a central government level.
Royal Decree RD 2019/1997 of 26 December, which controls and governs the electricity production market in general terms, i.e, “establishes the organization of the daily electricity market, the intraday market, bilateral contract with physical delivery and system adjustments services”.
Royal Decree 1955/2000 of 1 December, which “establishes the legal regime applicable to the activities of transmissions, distribution, commercialization and supply of electricity and the relations among the different parties involved”. Also, the authorisation procedures for electricity facilities competence of the General Estate Administration.
Law 17/2013, of October 29, 2013, for the guarantee of supply and increase of competition in the island and non-mainland of competition in the insular and extra peninsular electricity systems.
Royal Decree RD 413/2014 of 6 June, which sets up the economic and industrial legal framework for “renewable energy production, cogeneration and waste”.
Royal Decree 738/2015 of 31st July, “establishes the dispatching procedure in Non-Peninsular Territories as well as the remuneration scheme for the production of electricity”, particularly the remuneration scheme for installations from manageable sources of energy.
Royal Decree 897/2017 of 6 October, on the “regulation of the vulnerable consumer regime, the social bond and the suspension of electricity supply for consumers with less than 10 kW of contracted power”.
Royal Decree-Law 15/2018, of 5 October, on urgent measures for energy transition and consumer protection. Among other measures, this Royal Decree-Law introduces profound changes in the regulatory framework of electricity self-consumption in Spain.
Royal Decree 244/2019 of 5 April, regulating the “administrative, technical and economic conditions for the self-consumption of electrical energy defined in Article 9 of Law 24/2013, of December 26, of the Electricity Sector”.
Royal Decree 1183/2020, of December 29, on access and connection to the electricity transmission and distribution networks.
Royal Decree-Law 20/2022, of December 27. Title I include urgent measures on energy matters (Arts.18 to 23). Specially to point out that Art. 21 introduces modification of specific aspects of the development plans of the electric power transmission grid; Art. 22 simplifies the procedure for determining environmental impact for renewable energy projects, and Art. 23 simplifies procedures for the authorisation of renewable energy projects.
Royal Decree 23/2020 of 23 June introduces measures in energy as well as in other areas for the economic reactivation after the COVID crisis. “The 1st block refers to various measures for the orderly development and promotion of renewable energies which includes the regulation of access and connection” and “The 2nd block contains a series of measures to promote new business models that will be very relevant in the energy transition”.
Other secondary rules can be found in various Laws, Royal Decrees, Ministerial Orders, and other pieces of legislation, in addition to all the specific regulations introduced by Parliament and the government of each Autonomous Community or Region. The last ones mostly deal with permit proceedings, remuneration of regulated activities, and environmental issues.
The regulations (circulares) issued by the National Regulatory Authority (National Commission of Markets and Competition - NCMC) were created as a result of the regulatory powers being transferred and grouped by Royal Decree-Law 1/2019, of 11 January.
Circular 1/2021, of January 20, 2001, of the National Commission for Markets and Competition, which establishes the methodology and conditions for access and connection to the transmission and distribution networks for the distribution of electric energy production facilities.
Operating procedures are developed by the national transmission system operator (TSO). Red Eléctrica de España (REE) is the system operator and the sole (and exclusive) transmission system operator in Spain, owning all primary grid networks (High Voltage). In the same way, the secondary distribution could add specific transmission guidelines and requests as set by the designated DSO in the area. This must be checked on a case-by-case basis.
The generation market functioning rules are approved by OMIE, the market operator.