Protection from disconnections

1. Member States shall ensure that vulnerable customers and customers affected by energy poverty are fully protected from electricity disconnections, by taking the appropriate measures, including the prohibition of disconnections or other equivalent actions. Member States shall provide such protection as part of their policy with regard to vulnerable customers pursuant to Article 28(1) and without prejudice to the measures set out in Article 10(11).

When notifying the Commission of their transposition measures of this Directive, Member States shall explain the relationship between the first subparagraph and the corresponding parts of national transposition instruments.

2. Member States shall ensure that suppliers do not terminate contracts and do not disconnect customers on the grounds on which customers have submitted a complaint in accordance with Article 10(9) or which are subject to an out-of-court dispute settlement mechanism in accordance with Article 26. Such a complaint or the use of such a mechanism shall not affect the parties’ contractual rights and obligations. Member States may take appropriate measures to avoid an abuse of process.

3. Member States shall take appropriate measures referred to in paragraph 1 to enable customers to avoid disconnection, which may include:

promoting voluntary codes for suppliers and customers on preventing and managing cases of customers in arrears; those arrangements may concern support for customers in managing their energy use and costs, including flagging unusual high energy spikes or use in winter and summer seasons, offering appropriate flexible payment plans, debt advice measures, self-metering readings, and improved communication with customers and support agencies;

promoting customers’ education and awareness of their rights with regard to debt management;

access to finance, vouchers or subsidies to support the payment of bills;

encouraging and facilitating the provision of meter readings every three months, or where relevant for shorter billing periods, where a system of regular self-reading by the final customer has been implemented to meet the obligations of points 2(a) and (b) of Annex I in relation to the frequency of billing and the provision of billing information.’

in Article 31, paragraphs 2 and 3 are replaced by the following:

‘2. In any event, the distribution system operator shall not discriminate between system users or classes of system users, including renewable energy communities and citizen energy communities, in particular in favour of its related undertakings.

3. Distribution system operators shall provide system users with the information they need for efficient access to, and use of, the system. In particular, distribution system operators shall publish in a transparent manner clear information on the capacity available for new connections in their area of operation with high spatial granularity, respecting public security and data confidentiality, including the capacity under connection request and the possibility of flexible connection in congested areas. The publication shall include information on the criteria for the calculation of the available capacity for new connections. Distribution system operators shall update that information on a regular basis, at least quarterly.

Distribution system operators shall provide in a transparent manner clear information to system users about the status and treatment of their connection requests. They shall provide such information within three months of the submission of the request. Where the requested connection is neither granted nor permanently rejected, distribution system operators shall update that information on a regular basis, at least quarterly.

3a. Distribution system operators shall provide system users the option to request grid connection and submit relevant documents exclusively in digital form.

3b. Member States may decide not to apply paragraph 3 to integrated electricity undertakings which serve fewer than 100 000 connected customers, or which serve small isolated systems. Member States may apply a threshold lower than that of 100 000 connected customers.

Member States shall encourage integrated electricity undertakings which serve fewer than 100 000 connected customers to provide system users with the information referred to in paragraph 3 once a year and promote cooperation between distribution system operators for that purpose.’

in Article 33, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1. Without prejudice to Directive 2014/94/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( *2 ) , Member States shall provide the necessary regulatory framework to facilitate the connection of publicly accessible and private recharging points with smart charging functionalities and bidirectional charging functionalities in accordance with Article 20a of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 to the distribution networks. Member States shall ensure that distribution system operators cooperate on a non-discriminatory basis with any undertaking that owns, develops, operates or manages recharging points for electric vehicles, including with regard to connection to the grid.

( *2 ) Directive 2014/94/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure ( OJ L 307, 28.10.2014, p. 1 ).’;"

Article 59 is amended as follows:

paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

point (c) is replaced by the following:

in close coordination with the other regulatory authorities, ensuring the compliance of the single allocation platform established in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/1719 ( *3 ) , the ENTSO for Electricity and the EU DSO entity with their obligations under this Directive, Regulation (EU) 2019/943, the network codes and guidelines adopted pursuant to Articles 59, 60 and 61 of Regulation (EU) 2019/943, and other relevant Union law, including as regards cross-border issues, as well as with ACER’s decisions, and jointly identifying non-compliance of the single allocation platform, the ENTSO for Electricity and the EU DSO entity with their respective obligations; where the regulatory authorities have not been able to reach an agreement within a period of four months after the start of consultations for the purpose of jointly identifying non-compliance, the matter shall be referred to the ACER for a decision, pursuant to Article 6(10) of Regulation (EU) 2019/942;

( *3 ) Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/1719 of 26 September 2016 establishing a guideline on forward capacity allocation ( OJ L 259, 27.9.2016, p. 42 ).’;"

point (z) is replaced by the following:

monitoring the removal of unjustified obstacles to and restrictions on the development of consumption of self-generated electricity, energy sharing, renewable energy communities and citizen energy communities, including obstacles and restrictions preventing the connection of flexible distributed energy generation within a reasonable time in accordance with Article 58, point (d).’

paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:

‘4. The regulatory authority located in the Member State in which the single allocation platform, the ENTSO for Electricity or the EU DSO entity has its seat shall have the power to impose effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties on those entities where they do not comply with their obligations under this Directive, Regulation (EU) 2019/943 or any relevant legally binding decisions of the regulatory authority or of ACER, or to propose that a competent court impose such penalties.’

in Article 66, the following paragraphs are added:

‘6. By way of derogation from Article 40(4), the transmission system operators in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania shall be able to rely on balancing services provided by domestic electricity storage providers, transmission system operators related undertakings, and other facilities owned by transmission system operators.

By way of derogation from Article 54(2), Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania may allow their transmission system operators and transmission system operators related undertakings to own, develop, manage and operate energy storage facilities without following an open, transparent and non-discriminatory tendering procedure and may allow such energy storage facilities to buy or sell electricity in the balancing markets.

The derogations referred to in the first and second subparagraphs shall apply for up to three years after Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have joined the Continental Europe Synchronous Area. Where necessary to preserve security of supply, the Commission may grant an extension of the initial three-year period by a maximum of five years.

7. By way of derogation from Article 40(4) and Article 54(2), Cyprus may allow its transmission system operator to own, develop, manage and operate energy storage facilities without following an open, transparent and non-discriminatory tendering procedure.

The derogation referred to in the first subparagraph shall apply until the transmission system in Cyprus is connected to other Member States’ transmission systems via interconnection.’

the following article is inserted:

DIRECTIVE (EU) 2024/1711 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 13 June 2024 amending Directives (EU) 2018/2001 and (EU) 2019/944 as regards improving the Union’s electricity market design