Energy Cooperatives : A Missing Piece of the Peer-to-Peer Energy Regulation Puzzle?

Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading is emerging as a new mechanism for settling exchanges of energy between renewable energy generators and consumers. Often facilitated through distributed ledgers (‘blockchains'), it provides a mechanism for matching local supply and demand. Energy communities across Europe, including in the United Kingdom (UK), have realised the potential of this technology and are currently running pilots testing its applicability to P2P energy trading. The aim of this paper is to analyse whether the legal forms available to energy communities in the United Kingdom could help resolve some of the uncertainties around individual energy consumers using blockchain for peer-to-peer energy trading. These include the legal recognition of ‘prosumers' acting as consumers and entrepreneurs, the protection of their personal data, as well as the validity of ‘smart contracts' programmed to trade energy on the blockchain network. There is currently a lack of legal clarity on these issues. The analysis has shown that legal entities such as Limited Liability Partnerships and particularly Co-operative Societies can play a crucial role in providing the necessary framework to protect consumers when using smart contracts and engaging in P2P transactions