- From July 1, 2024, the principle of billing electricity produced from photovoltaics at market hourly prices indicated in the RCE in the net-billing system has been in force.
- The Ministry of Environmental Protection replied that there will be no transitional period and all owners of home photovoltaics are billed on an hourly basis in the net-billing system. Only when the regulations are amended will they be able to return to monthly rates.
- As you can check, the highest rates start from 20:00-21:00 (sunset) and up, because in the summer the demand for electricity increases at this time. Unfortunately, your photovoltaic installation no longer produces electricity.
- Although prices are given in 15-minute resolution, please note that for each quarter of an hour for 1 whole hour, the energy rate values are identical, e.g. from 4:00 to 5:00 for 4 quarters of an hour, the price is the same and amounts to PLN 283, PLN 61 per 1 MWh (PLN 0.28/kWh).
- If there are hours with negative RCE prices, the DSO will have a legal obligation (if it enters into a legal dispute with us) to at least accept the value of electricity purchased – from a prosumer billing in the net-billing system – equal to PLN 0 or limit the consumption of electricity to its own networks.
From July 1, 2024, the principle of billing electricity produced from photovoltaics at market hourly prices indicated in the RCE in the net-billing system has been in force.
MKiŚ replied that there will be no transitional period and all owners of home photovoltaics are billed on an hourly basis in the net-billing system. Only when the regulations are amended will they be able to return to monthly rates.
Due to the planned date of adoption of the UD 41 project by the Council of Ministers is the third quarter of 2024, we do not plan to introduce transitional provisions. Until the proposed regulations come into force, prosumers will be settled in accordance with the applicable regulations. This means that after July 1, 2024, prosumers will be settled in the net-billing system based on RCE – informed the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage on the website gramwzdrowie.pl
Therefore, the changes do not apply to photovoltaic owners who stayed with the old discount system (net-metering).
As you can check, the highest rates start from 20:00-21:00 (sunset) and up, because in the summer the demand for electricity increases at this time. Unfortunately, your photovoltaic installation no longer produces electricity.
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How are photovoltaic owners billed in the net-billing system from July 1?
How to quickly check the prices of electricity produced from renewable energy sources?
Hourly RCE rates from the SPOT exchange market, at which surplus electricity fed into the network by prosumers via net-billing are settled, can be checked on the PSE website at the link below:
Moreover, you can generate a forecast report of the market price of electricity in a comparison for the next day with the forecast prices for the sale of electricity from photovoltaics in net-billing. However, it can be corrected.
You can choose a trading day there. Energy prices will then appear, updated every 15 minutes.
Although prices are given in 15-minute resolution, please note that for each quarter of an hour for 1 whole hour, the energy rate values are identical, e.g. from 4:00 to 5:00 for 4 quarters of an hour, the price is the same and amounts to PLN 283, PLN 61 per 1 MWh (PLN 0.28/kWh).
How to quickly check the prices of electricity produced from renewable energy sources? Source: PSE
'As you can see in the chart, electricity sales rates are given in MWh. What does it mean? This means that on June 30 this year, e.g. from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., for producing 1 MWh, a prosumer could earn PLN 1.90, i.e. PLN 0.0019 per 1 kWh.
On the same day, from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., the price for 1 MWh was PLN 201.65, i.e. for the production of 1 kWh, the owner of the photovoltaics received approximately PLN 0.20 on the prosumer deposit. Well, what about energy production from 1:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., when the price for 1 MWh reached -PLN 72.67, or -PLN 0.072/kWh. Does he have to subsidize the production of electricity when he puts it into the grid?
How will electricity from renewable energy sources be settled legally at negative prices?
Photovoltaic owners settling in the net-billing system do not have to worry that they will have to pay extra for the electricity produced.
They are protected by the Renewable Energy Act, which introduces a number of mechanisms protecting them against negative electricity prices in the hourly RCE settlement. This does not mean that these are financially beneficial solutions.
It is worth checking our agreement regarding the settlement of electricity from photovoltaics in the net-billing system before July 1, 2024, and possibly not express written consent or question the seller's ability to limit the production of electricity from our photovoltaic installation.
This is precisely regulated by the provisions contained in Art. 4b section 12 and 17 of the RES Act. Pursuant to Art. 4b section 12 of this Act:
A renewable energy prosumer who is not also a collective renewable energy prosumer or a virtual renewable energy prosumer, generating electricity in a micro-installation and subject to the settlements referred to in Art. 4 section 1a, may authorize in the comprehensive contract or in the sales contract the seller referred to in Art. 40 section 1, to:
- turning off this micro-installation or limiting the amount of electricity generated in this micro-installation so that this energy is not introduced into the electricity distribution network during the period when the price of electricity referred to in section 4, is negative , and
- install, maintain and use the devices controlling this micro-installation for the purposes referred to in point 1.
This means that the DSO, in accordance with the signed contract, will be able to even remotely turn off our photovoltaic installation when hourly electricity rates are negative. Which is not a very favorable solution.
To put it simply, a renewable energy prosumer is obliged to cover 50% of the cost of purchasing devices used to control the micro-installation, and the seller billing the prosumer is obliged to cover the second 50%.
Much more important is the provision of the Renewable Energy Act, Article 4b, section 17:
The seller referred to in Art. 40 section 1, may apply to the renewable energy prosumer referred to in section 12, to amend or conclude a comprehensive contract or a sales contract containing the provisions referred to in section 12 points 1 and 2. If the renewable energy prosumer does not consent to the change or conclusion of the contract referred to in the first sentence, the seller referred to in Art. 40 section 1, may apply the market price of electricity referred to in section 2 point 2, for this renewable energy consumer, without taking into account the rule of replacing negative values of this price with a value equal to zero , in order to determine the value of electricity introduced into the electricity distribution network.
Therefore, if there are hours with negative RCE prices, the DSO will have a legal obligation (if it enters into a legal dispute with us) to at least accept the value of electricity purchased from us equal to PLN 0 or limit the intake of electricity into its network.
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Homeowners don't want thermal modernization? The problem is too high costs
If we do not agree to another form of electricity management (e.g. turning off photovoltaics and limiting the production of electricity from renewable energy sources), we can reach an agreement in the net-billing system to purchase electricity from renewable energy sources at the market price per 1 MWh specified in the contract. The seller may not agree to this solution.
What if we enter into a legal dispute with the DSO regarding the settlement of electricity at an hourly rate in the net billing system?
Pursuant to Art. 4b section 18. Act on RES:
If a renewable energy prosumer applies to the Negotiation Coordinator referred to in Art. 31a of the Energy Law , with a request to resolve a dispute regarding the application of the market price of electricity, taking into account section 17, then until the dispute is resolved by this Coordinator by applying the market price of electricity referred to in section 2 point 2, for this renewable energy consumer , the rule of replacing negative values of this price with a value equal to zero is taken into account in order to determine the value of electricity introduced into the electricity distribution network.
Another much better solution is to invest in energy storage, so as not to give away the electricity produced from our photovoltaic installation for the proverbial zero zlotys, i.e. for nothing, and to sell the stored energy at a higher price from 8 p.m. onwards.