This policy brief gives a brief overview of the political and regulatory context at the European level for the development of energy communities, focusing on their social role. The brief shows that while regulation of energy communities is still in its infancy, it benefits from a good political dynamic pushed by the EU. Nevertheless, the social obligations ascribed to energy communities as non-traditional market players are not matched with the support needed to meet such expectations. The policy thus also offers several recommendations for EU policymakers, to continue to help energy communities thrive and realise their potential to reduce energy poverty and make the energy system more fair. Section 3 of the report includes interesting insights into the current situation and barriers for energy communities and energy-poor households. The annex includes a table with the differences between Citizen ECs and Renewable ECs which comes in handy.
You can find here the recommendations for the national level and the local level. You can download the brief here The EU framework on energy communities.