Ukraine plans to introduce a mechanism under which household consumers and businesses can receive rewards for changing their electricity usage schedule. In particular, this involves shifting consumption from peak hours to periods of lower load on the power system.

The National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC) approved the relevant draft amendments to the Retail Electricity Market Rules on October 27.

The new mechanism envisages that consumers will be able to receive money for changing the time or volume of electricity use in accordance with the terms of a special contract.

To this end, aggregators will operate on the market – companies that will combine the capabilities of individual consumers to manage electricity demand.

For example, a business will be able to shift part of its production processes to hours when network load is lower. Household consumers will be able to change the operating time of electrical appliances. If such actions meet the terms of the contract with the aggregator, a reward will be provided.

Changing electricity supplier is not required to participate in the program. The consumer will have two separate contracts:

  • with the current electricity supplier – for electricity supply;
  • with the aggregator – for participation in demand management and receipt of rewards.

NEURC explains that such an approach will help reduce the load on the power system during peak consumption hours, use generating capacity more efficiently, and maintain the balance between electricity production and consumption.

The draft resolution also defines the procedure for interaction between consumers and aggregators, conditions for concluding contracts, settlement procedures, and informing participants.

Amendments have been prepared in implementation of Law No. 4834-IX as part of bringing Ukrainian energy legislation closer to European rules.

The reward mechanism has not yet started working. NEURC has only approved the draft amendments, which must be published for comments and suggestions and undergo open discussion.

The specific amounts of rewards and the start date of the new mechanism are not specified in the regulator's announcement.

Based on materials from: NEURC