Peer-to-peer electricity in Austria: sharing PV power with your neighbours without an Energiegemeinschaft

Since 1 October 2026 you may sell your rooftop PV power to your neighbour, or give it to them.^[1] A contract between the two of you is enough; you do not need to set up an Energiegemeinschaft (energy community). You keep your existing electricity supply contract, and so does your neighbour.

The rules have applied since 1 October, but the industry's rollout plan has the Netzbetreiber (the grid operator) processing these arrangements only as of 5 October 2026, and only inside one Netzgebiet, the area of a single grid operator. If your partner sits on another operator's grid, processing is planned for 5 April 2027.^[2]

Since 1 October 2026 the law has also covered power generated in a self-supply installation and used at another site, such as a company's second site.

What peer-to-peer electricity is

Austria's Electricity Act, the Elektrizitätswirtschaftsgesetz (ElWG), defines a peer-to-peer contract as the sale or gift of renewable electricity between market participants, based on a contract with terms set in advance for settling and billing the transaction automatically. So you may sell your power or give it away, as long as it comes from renewable sources.^[3]

The peer-to-peer contract is one form of what the law calls joint energy use (gemeinsame Energienutzung). Every active customer is entitled to take part in it in addition to their existing supply contract.^[4]

Two routes without an Energiegemeinschaft

The first is the peer-to-peer contract under § 68(1). If you have PV on your roof and your neighbour has none, you can sign a contract with them that sets out what share of your power they receive and on what terms.

The second is self-supply at another site under § 65(2), for instance a company that runs PV on the roof of its warehouse and uses the power in its office building somewhere else. For this case the law points to the rules for joint energy use: the general provisions (§ 70), metering and billing (§ 71) and the conditions for large companies, namely at most 6 MW and a location in the bidding zone (§ 68(4)).

§ 68(1) also allows sharing between members or shareholders of the same legal person.

Joint energy use also covers Energiegemeinschaften

The ElWG also governs Erneuerbare-Energie-Gemeinschaften (renewable energy communities, § 66) and Bürgerenergiegemeinschaften (citizen energy communities, § 67), and both can take part in joint energy use.

Who can take part

Participants must be active customers. Among other cases, the law defines an active customer as a final customer, or a group of final customers acting together, who consumes or stores electricity they generated alone or jointly with others, or sells electricity they generated, within the Nahebereich (the proximity area defined in § 70(6)) or within the bidding zone. If selling electricity is your main commercial or professional activity, you are not an active customer.^[5]

If you qualify, you have a legal right against the Netzbetreiber to take part. Partial participation is allowed as well.^[6]

Large companies may take part with up to 6 MW and must be located in the bidding zone. With one installation, an active customer can be in at most five sharing arrangements at the same time.^[7]

If a municipality or other public authority takes part with its own installation, it must let vulnerable households join, and at least 10 % of the power its installation generates and feeds in each year for joint energy use must be available to those households or to charitable or social facilities that house vulnerable customers.^[8]

You keep your supplier and do not become one

Your rights and obligations as an active customer, in particular your free choice of supplier, are not affected by joint energy use. Passing power to your neighbour does not make you an electricity supplier in law.

Supplier-like duties still apply to households with a generating installation above 30 kW, and to all other active customers and Energiegemeinschaften with an installation above 100 kW, unless an Organisator (an appointed organiser) has taken them over. Above those limits you need general terms of supply and an information sheet for households and small businesses before the contract is signed; you must announce changes to your terms, issue an invoice, explain it on request and bill at least once a year free of charge.^[9]

Your supplier may not impose discriminatory requirements, procedures or charges on you, and in particular may not set a minimum supply volume. They may offer you a different product and pass on objectively justified extra costs, and must show you on request how those costs were calculated.^[10]

If part of your Einspeisung (the power you feed into the grid) in a quarter-hour is not allocated to anyone, it counts as fed into the public grid and goes to the balance group of your billing point.^[11]

How it works

1. You sign the contract with your partner.
2. The Netzbetreiber is informed of the contract, by you and your partner, or only by the Organisator if you have appointed one. The Netzbetreiber needs the generating and storage installations with how they work, their maximum capacity and their Zählpunktnummer (metering point number), the consuming installations with their Zählpunktnummer, and how the generated power is split, statically or dynamically. New and leaving participants, the end of the contract and the dismantling of installations are reported as well.^[12]
3. If you wish, you appoint an Organisator by contract or power of attorney. The Organisator can deal with the Netzbetreiber, sign contracts and run billing, support aggregation, and install, operate and maintain the installations. The Organisator must be notified to the Netzbetreiber.^[13]
4. The Netzbetreiber allocates the agreed share to your partner for each quarter-hour, capped at what your partner uses in that quarter-hour. The allocated share is recorded separately and shown on the invoice.
5. The Netzbetreiber meters the values per quarter-hour and sends the netted values to the suppliers, the other participants and any Organisator.^[14]

Your Viertelstundenwerte through an interface

As a party to a peer-to-peer contract you are entitled to your Viertelstundenwerte (quarter-hourly values) free of charge and machine-readable, through a programming interface and a customer-friendly web portal of the Netzbetreiber. The Sonstige Marktregeln, the detailed market rules, may set deadlines for putting this in place.^[14] For the ways you can retrieve your meter's values, see how to read your smart meter in Austria.

Nahebereich: where your neighbour is connected

The Nahebereich describes which part of the grid links generation and consumption. The law has four levels, depending on what the consuming and generating installations are connected through, and only through:^[15]

You have the right to learn within 14 days which part of the distribution grid your installations are connected to.

For peer-to-peer contracts and self-supply at another site, §§ 65 to 72 name no Nahebereich requirement. The legal definition allows installations in the Nahebereich or within the bidding zone.^[3] In law, your partner's installation therefore need not be in the Nahebereich. For Erneuerbare-Energie-Gemeinschaften, by contrast, the members' installations must be in the Lokalbereich or Regionalbereich.^[16] Under the rollout plan, the Netzbetreiber process peer-to-peer contracts and self-supply at another site across Netzgebiete only from 5 April 2027.

Which rule applies when

Since 1 October 2026

§§ 66 to 72 and § 65(2) ElWG are in force, and with them the rules for peer-to-peer contracts and self-supply at another site.

From 5 October 2026 (Phase 1)

Under the Stufenplan Bürgerenergiemodelle, a rollout plan by the industry body ebUtilities, the Netzbetreiber process self-supply and peer-to-peer contracts over the EDA network only inside one Netzgebiet; the ElWG sets no such limit.

From 31 December 2026

§ 128(5) ElWG enters into force. For participants, the regulator's ordinances set a separate network usage charge for the consumption covered by allocated power from an installation in the Nahebereich. Only the costs of the grid levels used count, with an appropriate share of total system costs.^[17]

From 5 April 2027 (Phase 2)

The plan has self-supply, peer-to-peer contracts and Erneuerbare-Energie-Gemeinschaften processed across Netzgebiet boundaries.

By 1 April 2028 at the latest

Allocation and the participation factor must be adjustable several times a day.^[7]

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an Energiegemeinschaft to share power with my neighbour?

No. A peer-to-peer contract between you and your neighbour is enough. The law expressly allows joint energy use between contracting parties.

Can my partner be in a different Netzgebiet?

The law names no Nahebereich requirement for peer-to-peer contracts. Under the rollout plan, processing from 5 October 2026 works only within one Netzgebiet, and across Netzgebiete from 5 April 2027.

Do I have to switch or cancel my electricity supplier?

No. You take part in addition to your existing supply contract, and your free choice of supplier is unaffected. Your supplier may not set a minimum supply volume.

Do I become an electricity supplier if I sell power to my neighbour?

No. Households with an installation above 30 kW and other active customers above 100 kW do take on supplier-like duties such as terms of supply and invoicing, unless an Organisator takes them over.

What happens to existing Energiegemeinschaften?

Energiegemeinschaften and jointly operated generating installations set up under the old ElWOG 2010 are to be transferred into the new rules with no action required from the participants.^[18]

Read next: the Zählpunktnummer explained and ElWG: quarter-hourly values in Austria.

[1] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 188(3): § 65(1) no. 6 and (2) and §§ 66 to 72 enter into force on 1 October 2026.

[2] ebUtilities, Stufenplan Bürgerenergiemodelle 2026 (V2), Anlage zur Konsultation 99: Phase 1 from 5 October 2026 for self-supply and peer-to-peer contracts within one Netzgebiet; Phase 2 from 5 April 2027 across Netzgebiete, including Erneuerbare-Energie-Gemeinschaften.

[3] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 6(1) nos. 57 and 124: legal definitions of joint energy use (energy from renewable sources, installations in the Nahebereich or within the bidding zone) and of the peer-to-peer contract.

[4] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 68(1): participation in addition to the existing supply contract; joint energy use between members of the same legal person or between contracting parties (peer-to-peer contracts).

[5] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 6(1) no. 7: legal definition of the active customer, including the exclusion where it is the main commercial or professional activity.

[6] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 70(1) and (3): legal right against grid operators; partial participation allowed.

[7] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 68(4) and § 71(5): large companies up to 6 MW, located in the bidding zone; up to five sharing arrangements per installation; allocation and participation factor adjustable several times a day by 1 April 2028 at the latest.

[8] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 68(6): participation of vulnerable households where public authorities share their own installation; at least 10 % of the power the installation generates and feeds in each year for joint energy use, for those households or for charitable or social facilities that house vulnerable customers.

[9] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 69(1): no supplier status; supplier-like duties (nos. 1 to 6) above 30 kW for households and above 100 kW for other active customers and Energiegemeinschaften unless an Organisator takes them over; free choice of supplier unaffected.

[10] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 72: suppliers may not discriminate or set a minimum supply volume; they may pass on objectively justified extra costs.

[11] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 71(3): Einspeisung not allocated in a quarter-hour counts as fed into the public grid.

[12] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 70(2): informing the grid operators of the contract (nos. 1 to 5).

[13] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 68(2): appointment and tasks of the Organisator, notification to the grid operator.

[14] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 71(1) and (4): allocation of the static or dynamic share per quarter-hour, capped at consumption, shown separately on the invoice; metering per quarter-hour, transmission of netted values; free provision through a programming interface and web portal to participants in joint energy use, implementation deadlines possible in the Sonstige Marktregeln.

[15] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 70(6): Nahebereich (nos. 1 to 4); information on the grid connection within 14 days.

[16] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 66(1): installations of the members of an Erneuerbare-Energie-Gemeinschaft in the Nahebereich under § 70(6) no. 3 or 4.

[17] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 128(5) read with § 188(5): separate network usage charge in the Nahebereich from 31 December 2026.

[18] ElWG, BGBl. I Nr. 91/2025, § 189(17): transfer of existing Energiegemeinschaften and jointly operated generating installations.