This is the conclusion of this expert meeting:
Electricity sharing is rare in all four project regions at this moment. In all countries initiatives are currently taken to facilitate electricity sharing. However, the initiatives are still in test phase, or in pre-test phase. Only in France electricity sharing among (non-small energy consuming) businesses is allowed under certain conditions. In the other project countries electricity sharing is solely allowed for individuals or small users.
In three of the four regions electricity sharing is geographically restricted. This is remarkable as there is no clear indication that there are cost (or other) benefits to locally sharing electricity compared to nationally (in case the grid infrastructure completed).
(Theoretical) profits from electricity sharing (and thus incentives to share) origin largely from the (theoretical) absence of grid costs in the energy bill, eg. avoidance of network costs. The cost of the grid depends on its capacity, not on its use. The non-payment of grid costs is thus defendable in case that local balancing (induced by local energy sharing) does reduce the investment (capacity) costs for the grid. The avoidance of network charges is not a fair and structural solution in case the grid costs are not reduced thanks to the electricity sharing.