Actors & Stakeholders ====== Actors, roles, and agents ====== lead-authors: Klaus Kubeczko contributors: Vitaliy Soloviy reviewers: [Names] version: 2.0 updated: 18 March 2026 sensitivity: low ai-use: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) assisted with topic structuring, editorial revision, reference verification, and wiki formatting; reviewed by Vitaliy Soloviy, 18.03.2026 Actors are the organisations and individuals who directly participate in the economic, operational, and regulatory activities of the electricity system. Smart grid transitions reconfigure actor roles substantially: prosumers, aggregators, and energy communities are taking on functions that were once reserved for established utilities and system operators, while digital platforms are enabling categories of participation that existing frameworks were not designed to accommodate. ===== Why this matters ===== Who participates in grid operation and markets, and in what capacity, is not fixed. Utilities, system operators, and regulators hold defined mandates built over decades of infrastructure governance. Alongside them, new categories of actor have emerged whose positions are less settled. Aggregators combine small distributed resources into market-relevant portfolios but depend on regulatory recognition and data access to operate. Prosumers generate and consume electricity yet may lack awareness of their potential market role. Energy communities organise collective action around shared generation or demand management. Each category brings distinct interests, information needs, and accountability relationships that shape how quickly the system can adapt to new conditions. Actor roles are not defined by technology alone. An entity capable of providing grid services may still lack the regulatory recognition, metering infrastructure, or data access needed to participate. Governance arrangements and market rules determine whether a technical capacity becomes an operational role. Smart grid transitions shift who can act and on what terms. New digital platforms enable small consumers to participate in demand response or sell flexibility. Distribution-level markets create spaces where aggregated resources interact with system operators. Regulatory innovations, such as the European Union's active customer and aggregator definitions, extend institutional recognition to actor categories that previously operated in ambiguity.((Wieczorek, A. J., Rohracher, H., Bauknecht, D., Kubeczko, K., Bolwig, S., Valkering, P., Belhomme, R., & Maggiore, S. (2024). Citizen-led decentralised energy futures: Emerging rationales of energy system organisation. //Energy Research and Social Science//, 113, 103557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103557)) ===== A shared definition ===== Actors are organisations or individuals who participate directly in the economic, operational, or regulatory activities of the electricity system, carrying defined responsibilities and exercising agency within its structures.((Wieczorek, A. J., Rohracher, H., Bauknecht, D., Kubeczko, K., Bolwig, S., Valkering, P., Belhomme, R., & Maggiore, S. (2024). Citizen-led decentralised energy futures. //Energy Research and Social Science//, 113, 103557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103557)) The electricity system can be understood as a chain of functions — energy production and transformation, logistics and network operation, and energy end-use — with distinct actor categories operating at each stage. ^ Category ^ Examples ^ Relationship to the grid ^ | **Market actors** | Generators, retailers, aggregators, storage operators, prosumers | Buy, sell, or trade energy, capacity, and flexibility in markets | | **System actors** | Transmission and distribution operators, balancing authorities | Operate infrastructure, maintain reliability, coordinate dispatch | | **Regulatory actors** | Regulators, standards bodies, market operators | Set rules, oversee compliance, administer market platforms | | **Innovation actors** | Technology providers, research organisations, pilot projects | Develop, test, and deploy new technologies and business models | These categories are not fixed. Energy cooperatives act as market participants and community governance bodies simultaneously. Prosumers shift between pure consumption, self-supply, and active market participation depending on metering, tariff structures, and available platforms. The category of aggregator sits at the boundary between market and system actors, combining commercially driven portfolio management with grid-supporting functions. ===== Perspectives ===== How actor roles are understood depends on whether the focus is on the people and organisations involved, the technical systems through which they act, or the institutional frameworks that define what they are permitted to do. Each lens reveals constraints and possibilities that the others miss. ==== Actors and stakeholders ==== Established utilities, system operators, and regulators interact within role structures built over decades. Smart grid transitions introduce new categories of actors whose positions are less settled. Trust, information asymmetry, and coordination costs among actor groups shape how quickly new roles can develop. Where interests conflict — between grid planners investing in long-term infrastructure and flexibility providers operating on short horizons, or between regulators safeguarding universal service and new entrants seeking market access — these tensions are analytically important. **Bangladesh -- Infrastructure Development Company Limited** \\ A government-backed entity that coordinated between technology providers, microfinance institutions, and rural households, acting as an intermediary actor between national policy and local deployment of solar home systems.((Cabraal, A., Ward, W. A., Bogach, V. S., & Jain, A. (2021). //Living in the light: The Bangladesh solar home systems story.// World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/35311)) **Germany -- citizen energy cooperatives** \\ Over 800 Energiegenossenschaften combine the roles of investor, generator, and community actor, creating a hybrid category that spans market participation and local governance. Their role as gatekeepers or facilitators for community renewable energy depends significantly on regulatory conditions.((Yildiz, O., Rommel, J., Debor, S., Holstenkamp, L., Mey, F., Muller, J. R., Radtke, J., & Rognli, J. (2015). Renewable energy cooperatives as gatekeepers or facilitators? //Energy Research and Social Science//, 6, 59–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2014.12.001)) **Colombia -- CREG Resolution 174 of 2021** \\ Created simplified connection procedures and established the terms on which individual and commercial producers can deliver surplus energy to the grid, institutionally expanding who can act as a generator in the Colombian system.((Comisión de Regulación de Energía y Gas. (2021). //Resolución CREG 174 de 2021.// CREG, Colombia. https://gestornormativo.creg.gov.co/gestor/entorno/docs/resolucion_creg_0174_2021.htm)) ==== Technologies and infrastructure ==== The technologies actors use determine what roles they can play. Smart meters enable time-varying tariffs and demand response participation, while distributed energy resource management systems allow operators to coordinate large numbers of small resources. Communication infrastructure and interoperability standards determine whether new actors can exchange data with system operators and market platforms. The availability and maturity of these technologies directly affects whether roles that exist in principle become operational in practice. **South Korea -- Jeju Island smart grid test bed** \\ Research on the test bed found that demand-side participation — including electric vehicles, battery storage, and small-scale generators — in day-ahead and real-time markets depends on shared metering and trading infrastructure, not only on the technical capabilities of individual actors.((Chung, K.-H., Moon, K.-S., & Roh, J.-H. (2014). Electricity market design for the incorporation of various demand-side resources in the Jeju Smart Grid Test-bed. //Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology//, 9(6), 1881–1889. http://koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO201433150758236.page)) **India -- Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Provider programme** \\ The AMISP model creates a technology-focused actor category responsible for deploying, operating, and maintaining metering infrastructure on behalf of distribution utilities, separating metering as a distinct operational role within the system.((National Smart Grid Mission, Ministry of Power, Government of India. (2021). //Model standard bidding document for appointment of Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Provider (AMISP).// NSGM. https://www.nsgm.gov.in/en/amisp-sbd)) **United Kingdom -- Elexon and the Balancing and Settlement Code** \\ The BSC defines how electricity transactions between generators and suppliers are settled in Great Britain. Elexon administers this framework, comparing contracted volumes against actual metered output for each half-hour period and calculating imbalance charges — showing how settlement infrastructure defines the operational boundaries of market actor participation.((Elexon. (2024). //The Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) arrangements.// Elexon Digital BSC. https://bscdocs.elexon.co.uk/guidance-notes/the-balancing-and-settlement-code-bsc-arrangements)) ==== Institutional structures ==== Institutions determine which actors are legally recognised, what they are permitted or required to do, and how accountability is arranged. Licensing frameworks define who can generate, distribute, or retail electricity. Market rules specify participation requirements, while connection standards set the technical threshold for new resources to enter the system. Where institutional frameworks have not yet caught up with technological capabilities, actors with the capacity to participate may find themselves without the regulatory recognition to do so. **European Union -- Electricity Market Directive 2019/944** \\ Introduced legal definitions for active customers, citizen energy communities, and aggregators, creating institutional foundations for actor categories that had previously existed in regulatory ambiguity.((European Parliament and Council of the European Union. (2019). Directive 2019/944 on common rules for the internal market for electricity. //Official Journal of the European Union//, L 158, 125–199. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/944/oj)) **Nigeria -- Eligible Customer Regulations 2024** \\ NERC's 2024 regulations define which consumers qualify for direct market access by classifying eligible customers into five categories based on consumption levels and connection type, setting the institutional threshold that determines whether large consumers remain passive customers or become active market actors.((Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. (2024). //Eligible customer regulations 2024.// NERC. https://nerc.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-NERC-ELEIGIBLE-CUSTOMER-REGULATIONS.pdf)) **Australia -- Access, pricing and incentive arrangements for distributed energy resources** \\ This 2021 AEMC rule change updated market rules to clarify that distribution services are two-way and to enable distributed energy resources to participate in export markets, institutionally recognising new categories of prosumer and collective market actor.((Australian Energy Market Commission. (2021). //Access, pricing and incentive arrangements for distributed energy resources: Final determination.// AEMC. https://www.aemc.gov.au/rule-changes/access-pricing-and-incentive-arrangements-distributed-energy-resources)) ===== Key terms ===== ^ Term ^ Definition ^ | **Actor** | An organisation or individual that directly participates in the economic, operational, or regulatory activities of the electricity system, carrying defined responsibilities and exercising agency within its structures.((Wieczorek, A. J., et al. (2024). Citizen-led decentralised energy futures. //Energy Research and Social Science//, 113, 103557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103557)) | | **Aggregator** | A market participant that bundles the flexibility, generation, or consumption of multiple distributed resources into a single portfolio for trading or system service provision.((European Parliament and Council of the European Union. (2019). Directive 2019/944. //Official Journal of the European Union//, L 158, 125–199. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/944/oj)) | | **Prosumer** | An actor who both produces and consumes electricity, typically through distributed generation, and who may participate in markets or provide grid services.((European Parliament and Council of the European Union. (2019). Directive 2019/944. //Official Journal of the European Union//, L 158, 125–199. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/944/oj)) | | **Balance responsible party** | An actor who has accepted financial responsibility for imbalances between contracted and actual electricity volumes within a defined settlement period.((Elexon. (2024). //The Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) arrangements.// Elexon Digital BSC. https://bscdocs.elexon.co.uk/guidance-notes/the-balancing-and-settlement-code-bsc-arrangements)) | | **Active customer** | A legal and regulatory category — defined in instruments such as the EU Electricity Market Directive — that confers specific rights to self-generate, store, consume, and sell electricity, and to participate in demand response or aggregation.((European Parliament and Council of the European Union. (2019). Directive 2019/944. //Official Journal of the European Union//, L 158, 125–199. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/944/oj)) | ===== Distinctions and overlaps ===== **Actors vs. stakeholders** \\ Actors participate directly in electricity system operations and markets. Stakeholders hold interests and may shape the framework conditions under which actors operate, without necessarily engaging in daily activities. The distinction is functional rather than fixed: a community group is a stakeholder until it establishes an energy cooperative, at which point it becomes an actor.((Wieczorek, A. J., et al. (2024). Citizen-led decentralised energy futures. //Energy Research and Social Science//, 113, 103557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103557)) **Market actors vs. system actors** \\ Market actors trade energy, capacity, and services under commercial incentives. System actors operate infrastructure and maintain reliability under mandated obligations. Aggregators often sit at the boundary, combining market-facing and system-supporting functions.((Hillberg, E., Zegers, A., Herndler, B., Wong, S., Pompee, J., Ching, A., Schmitt, L., Barreto, M., Cowder, K., & Johansson, T. (2019). //Flexibility needs in the future power system.// ISGAN Annex 6. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.22580.71047)) **Prosumers vs. active customers** \\ Prosumer is a functional term describing an entity that both produces and consumes electricity. Active customer is a legal category defined in specific regulatory instruments. Not all prosumers are legally recognised as active customers in jurisdictions that have not yet adopted the relevant definitions.((European Parliament and Council of the European Union. (2019). Directive 2019/944. //Official Journal of the European Union//, L 158, 125–199. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/944/oj)) ===== Related topics ===== {{tag>stakeholders energy_communities_and_other_grid_edge_activities Governance Institutions Markets Flexibility}} ===== References =====