New legal arrangements for the aggregation of distributed generation and demand are required for the future electricity grid so as to increase flexibility, resilience, citizens’ participation and also alleviate energy poverty. To promote the transitioning to a low carbon society, countries are reforming their legal framework to enable broad civic engagement in the energy markets. This work analyses the process of reform of the legal framework of the electric sector with focus on energy communities, using two study cases, one in Brazil and another in Italy. The research performed is applied, qualitative, descriptive and exploratory. The work uses multiple research methods, blending case studies, semi-structured interviews and a systematic literature review for data collection and the functional method of comparative law, discourse analysis and triangulation for data analysis. The findings suggest greater consideration of the energy poverty nexus in the policy design of the electricity sector and they also reveal the important role of specialized technical bodies and governmental institutions for the take-off and success of an energy community endeavour, highlighting crucial aspects for an energy transition aligned with the Paris Agreement and the goals of Agenda 2030.

未来的电网需要新的法律法规，以汇总分布式发电和需求，以增加灵活性，弹性，公民参与度并减轻能源贫困。为了促进向低碳社会的过渡，各国正在改革其法律框架，以使公民能够广泛参与能源市场。这项工作使用两个研究案例，一个在巴西，另一个在意大利，分析了以能源社区为重点的电力部门法律框架的改革过程。进行的研究是应用性，定性，描述性和探索性的。该作品采用多种研究方法，混合案例研究，半结构化访谈和系统的文献综述来收集数据和比较法的功能方法，话语分析和三角剖分进行数据分析。研究结果表明，在电力部门的政策设计中应更多地考虑能源贫困的关系，它们还揭示了专门技术机构和政府机构在推动和成功实现能源社区事业方面的重要作用，并着重强调了能源领域的关键方面。能源过渡与《巴黎协定》和《 2030年议程》的目标保持一致。