The Slovenian Government has issued a regulation on electricity self-supply from renewable energy sources that will abolish the net metering concept for solar systems that will be valid from 2024. It also guarantees new ways to get incentives for electricity self-sufficiency.
The new law, seen as one of the measures to mitigate the effect of energy crisis, allows households, household communities and small businesses to install an electricity generator connected to the building’s network. The main advantage of this self-supply system is that the amount of electricity taken from the network and the amount put into the network are balanced out, so the consumer pays only the difference if they have taken more than they have put into the grid. If they have taken less, they pay nothing except some fixed charges.
The regulation also introduces a new regime for self-supply generators with a connection capacity of less than 50 kW, with streamlined connection procedure.
Although the EU renewable energy directive promotes self-supply, the concept of net metering under the energy crisis relief law is not in line with the EU directive on the electricity market, which stipulates that in the future a grid charge will have to be levied for all electricity taken from the distribution network. As a result, those who enter the self-supply system after 31 December 2023 will no longer be eligible for net metering under the new regulation.
The new regulation also provides self-supply generators exemptions and partial exemptions from certain levies, the possibility for all end-users connected to the network to enter the self-supply system, and the possibility to receive investment aid in the form of grants.