Abstract
Energy communities (ECs) are emerging as a promising step to mitigate energy poverty and climate changes, since their main objective is to obtain environmental, economic, and social benefits for the participants, namely in terms of increasing local production using primary renewable resources. In the European Union (EU), Directives D2018 and D944 established a common regime for the promotion of ECs. Given the relevance of the topic, comparing regulations in force in Brazil, Germany, Portugal, and Spain, can contribute to mitigate risks, as well as save time and energy resources. Among the assessed aspects, this work analyzes requirements to access to the activity and measurement issues, which are already well and clearly defined. As for business models and remuneration, focus is given to energy cooperatives and feed-in payments. In turn, the main barriers include financing, end of incentives, need to develop new business models, and issues related to peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions. © 2022 IEEE.

Abstract

Abstract
Current residential electricity tariffs often combine a flat energy price with a fixed charge linked to contracted power, resulting in electricity bills that are weakly responsive to changes in consumption. This lack of proportionality reduces incentives for energy savings and may undermine demand-side efficiency.This paper proposes a novel Power-Conditioned Pricing (PCP) tariff, in which unit energy prices depend on the power level at which electricity is consumed. By associating higher prices with higher consumption intensity, the proposed tariff introduces progressivity while preserving transparency and regulatory feasibility. The tariff is calibrated to ensure revenue neutrality with respect to the current tariff for each contracted power level.Two complementary calibration strategies are analysed: a profile-based approach using representative regulatory load profiles, and an empirical approach based on statistical distributions derived from real consumer data. To assess consumer responsiveness, electricity bills are evaluated under both vertical and horizontal consumption adjustment models.Results show that bill elasticity increases from values between 0.43–0.73 under the current tariff to values close to unity under PCP, while maintaining revenue neutrality across contracted power levels. These findings suggest that power-conditioned pricing constitutes a promising alternative to current residential tariff structures, better aligned with energy-efficiency and conservation objectives.