Legal Structures and Governance Models in Energy Communities

Legal Structures and Governance Models in Energy Communities

An energy community is not only a technical project, but also a legal and organisational construct. For long-term stability, transparency and compliance, you need a well-designed legal form and a clear governance model.

The Decent.ec portal helps translate the chosen governance model into everyday operations: roles, permissions, decision-support data and communication.

1. Why do legal structure and governance matter?

For an energy community to succeed, it is crucial that:

• there is a clear legal entity (who signs contracts, who bears liability, who receives support/funding),
• it is clear who decides what (investments, tariffs, rules),
• the rights and obligations of each actor (members, admins, operator, municipality, company) are well defined,
• members trust that decisions are made transparently and in a documented way.

Decent.ec supports this by:

• assigning different permission levels to different actors,
• providing all decision-relevant data and statistics in one place,
• making part of the communication and documentation searchable and visible (groups, channels, settings, reports).

2. Typical legal forms for energy communities

Depending on national legislation, several legal forms are possible. Common options include:

2.1. Association or cooperative

• A member-based, goal-oriented form (e.g. residential energy community).
• All members have some level of say (general assembly, members’ meeting).
• Pros: strong community control, clearly centred on members’ interests.
• Cons: decision-making can be slower, with more administration.

2.2. Limited liability company (LLC) or other company form

• Common in corporate or mixed (municipality + company) projects.
• More flexible contracting, investment and financing.
• Owners’ rights and obligations are defined in the articles of association.
• Pros: professional management, easier access to bank financing.
• Cons: “small” members may have limited influence if governance is not well designed.

2.3. Municipal or mixed ownership models

• The municipality plays a leading or co-leading role (e.g. schools, pools, public buildings + households).
• Decision-making involves municipal bodies (council, committees).
• Useful where the project has a strong public-service character.

2.4. Mixed / multi-layered models

• It is possible that the technical assets are owned by a company,
• while community representation and member interests are handled by an association.
• From a Decent.ec perspective, this means multiple legal entities working on one community portal, with different permission levels.

3. Governance models: who decides what?

The governance model describes:

• which decision-making bodies exist (general assembly, board, supervisory board, working groups),
• who has which competences (investments, tariffs, rules, contracts),
• how members’ rights and interests are reflected.

3.1. General assembly / members’ meeting

• The highest decision-making body (in associations or cooperatives).
• Typically decides on:
  • adoption of statutes and internal regulations,
  • major investments and borrowing,
  • overall tariff framework, rules for joining/leaving.
• Decent.ec supports this by:
  • providing decision-support data, statistics and reports,
  • showing energy and cost data in understandable charts.

3.2. Governing body / board / executive committee

• Oversees day-to-day operations and implements general assembly decisions.
• Often decides on:
  • contracts with service providers and suppliers,
  • operational issues,
  • smaller investments and upgrades.
• Decent.ec supports the board by:
  • providing clear data via the Statistics and Billing modules,
  • allowing multi-site, multi-group overviews on a single interface.

3.3. Operational / management level

• Includes administrators, technical operators, financial managers.
• Responsible for daily operations (settlement, data checks, complaints, settings).
• In Decent.ec this typically means:
  • administrator role,
  • Content admin,
  • Billing admin,
  • Statistics / data admin.

4. Mapping the governance model into Decent.ec

The legal and governance model should be deliberately mapped onto portal roles and structures. Examples:

4.1. Members and permission levels

• Regular community member:
  • sees own consumption and cost data,
  • accesses relevant groups,
  • can post/comment (if allowed by community rules).
• Viewer (e.g. municipal representative, project partner):
  • sees aggregated statistics,
  • cannot edit data or manage users.
• Administrator:
  • manages members, groups and permissions,
  • configures community settings and module access.

4.2. Groups and channels

Governance can be supported by structuring Decent.ec into:

• separate groups, e.g.:
  • “Residential members”,
  • “Egis Körmend site”,
  • “Municipality”,
  • “Technical operators”.
• This way, each actor sees the information relevant to them, while central statistics and reports remain available to leadership in an aggregated view.

4.3. Decision-support data

• Before investment decisions, the governing body relies on Statistics module data.
• Before changing tariff structures, it uses Billing and cost statistics.
• For handling complaints and feedback, it relies on Content admin and group communications.

5. Transparency, responsibility and accountability

Key elements of good governance include:

• Transparent rules:
  • statutes / articles of association,
  • internal regulations (complaints handling, tariff setting, data management).
• Clear responsibilities:
  • who is the admin, who is the operator, who is financially responsible,
  • how they can be contacted (contact details within the portal).
• Accountability:
  • documenting decisions,
  • tracking the impact of decisions through portal statistics.

Decent.ec supports this by:

• offering a unified interface for key information,
• providing historical data (time series, summaries),
• assigning role-based access to reduce misuse risks and increase trust.

6. Good practices for designing legal structures and governance

• Clarify early: decide on the legal form and governance model already at the project design stage.
• Involve legal experts: use professional support to draft statutes, articles, contracts.
• Map the model into the portal: ensure each legal/organisational role has a clear counterpart in Decent.ec (admin roles, group structure, permissions).
• Annual review: regularly assess whether the chosen model works in practice; adjust rules, roles and portal settings if necessary.
• Transparent communication: inform members clearly about who decides what and where they can find the relevant data on the portal.