The Law on Amendments to the Energy Law (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 94/2024 – hereinafter the “Law”), came into force on December 6, 2024; however, the start of implementation of certain provision is stayed until the end of 2028.

A new development that certainly has attracted the most attention is the lifting of the decades-long moratorium on nuclear energy, as, with the enactment of the amendments, the Law on the Prohibition of Construction of Nuclear Power Plants in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (“Official Gazette of FRY”, No. 12/95 and “Official Gazette of RS”, No. 85/2005) ceased to be in force. In addition, the subject matter of the Energy Law now also includes the foundations for the development of nuclear energy, through inclusion of provisions of the Program for the Development of Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy.

The Law brings numerous other amendments and addendums, and below we highlight the most significant ones.

The Law introduces new energy activities, namely: aggregation performed as a market activity; transportation of unconventional fuels (compressed and liquefied natural gas); and production of bio-methane.

When it comes to licenses for performing energy activities, the Law provides that a license is now required for the storage of electricity. In addition to the license for wholesale supply, starting from December 31, 2028, licenses for the supply of electricity will also be issued to foreign legal entities that are registered and engaged in this activity in a contracting party of the Energy Community or the European Union.

Regarding energy permits, the Law introduces a requirement to obtain a permit for the construction of facilities for the production of bio-methane. On the other hand, an energy permit is not required for the construction of energy facilities (i) that are built in accordance with the law regulating public-private partnerships and concessions; (2) that are built in accordance with the provisions of the law governing the use of renewable energy sources, which prescribe strategic partnerships; (3) for the production of electricity for own consumption (regardless of whether surplus electricity is fed into the system); (4) for which a construction permit is not required, including facilities for which a work execution approval is issued in accordance with the law regulating planning and construction; (5) for the storage of electricity.

The responsibilities and obligations of the transmission system operator and the distribution system operator have been modified and expanded. The obligation of the transmission system operator to cooperate with and act in accordance with the standards of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) is specifically emphasized.

Among the new terms introduced by the Law are active consumer and citizen energy community, harmonising with Directive (EU) 2019/944 on common rules for the internal market for electricity.

An active consumer is defined as a final consumer or a group of final consumers who act collectively, using or storing electricity produced within their premises located within certain boundaries, or who independently sell the electricity they produce or participate in flexibility services or energy efficiency measures, provided that these activities do not constitute their primary commercial or professional activity. Final consumers have the right to act as active consumers and not be subject to disproportionate or discriminatory technical and administrative requirements, procedures, and charges, as well as system access charges that do not reflect actual costs. An active consumer is subject to tariff rates established by the methodology for determining the price of access to the transmission and distribution system, which reflect costs that are transparent and non-discriminatory, with particular consideration given to electricity delivered to the grid or taken from the grid. An active consumer is financially responsible for any deviations they cause in the system (unlike a prosumer) and is required to manage their balancing responsibility in both directions of delivery.

Participation in the citizen energy community is open and voluntary, and its members, in addition to individuals and local self-government units, may also include micro-enterprises or small enterprises whose business headquarters or location of the business premises is within the territory of the local self-government unit where the headquarters of the citizen energy community. Members of the citizen energy community are granted the right to share among themselves the electricity produced within the citizen energy community. The distribution system operator is entitled to compensation related to the distribution of electricity among the members of the citizen energy community, as a type of non-standard service.

The Law also introduces an obligation for training and certification of installers of systems that use renewable energy sources, specifically: small biomass boilers and stoves, heat pumps, photovoltaic systems, solar thermal systems, and shallow geothermal systems.

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