IEC forced to cut retroactive charges for rooftop solar panels

Following “Globes” report that the Israel Electric Corp. (IEC) is set to retroactively charge the owners of rooftop solar panels a ‘systems charge,’ which they have not been taking for the past five years, the Public Electricity Authority halted the procedure and demanded an investigation.

Now, it has been decided that the IEC will only be able to charge for six months instead of two years as originally planned, so that rooftop solar panel owners will still be required to pay up to hundreds of shekels. The IEC will absorb a cost of NIS 22 million, and the rest of the cost will be passed on to the general public of electricity consumers. The Electricity Authority has reprimanded the IEC and considers the failure to be very serious, especially since it did not report it to the Authority until the publication by “Globes.”

Electricity produced from solar panels on roofs can be sold to the electricity grid or used for self-consumption at home instead of buying electricity from the grid. However, independently produced electricity does not come for free, and according to regulations, home electricity producers must pay the IEC “system management costs” of NIS 0.09.09 for every kWh consumed. This is to finance services that the IEC provides and allow ongoing consumption, such as balancing demand and maintaining the system’s correct frequency. Although the decision to collect the charge was made four years ago, the IEC did not actually collect the fee, since it was required to develop computer systems that would make this possible.

In January, as first published by “Globes,” the IEC planned to collect these payments retroactively. This was about NIS 65 million, which could have been collected in charges of up to thousands of shekels retroactively from the owners of the solar panels on roofs. However, following publication, the PublicElectricity Authority halted this plan and demanded that the IEC explain why it had not collected payments to which it was obligated for years.

According to the investigation conducted by the IEC, due to “human error” resulting from “regulatory, operational and IT burdens”, the IEC did not collect the payment for years.

The Public Electricity Authority said, “The IEC acted to implement the Electricity Authority’s decision regarding the systemic tariff with great delay”. Even worse, “The company was aware, according to the investigation, of the collection failure as early as January 2023, but did not report it to the Authority until the case was exposed in the media”, with the first publication being in Globes. This, the Authority views “with great seriousness”.

In other words, only after three years did the IEC understand the problem, but it did not address it for another two years. The IEC says, among other things, that it was under a great burden due to other regulatory changes, such as the gradual collection according to the roof’s production capacity (the more production capacity there is, the smaller the payment per kWh produced), and this required a lot of IT resources from the IEC.

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The public will be forced to participate in covering the debt

And what will be done now with the debt of tens of millions that has accumulated? It will be divided between several sources: The IEC will be able to collect from the roof owners up to six months in arrears of payments, an amount that can reach hundreds of shekels. The rest of the amount will be divided between NIS 22 million that the IEC will absorb NIS 14 million that consumers will pay. In other words, all consumers will pay for the failure in question on their electricity bill.

According to the Public Electricity Authority, “This partial participation by the public is a necessary step in managing risks with an essential service provider.” For the period 2020-2023, for which the electricity company also did not collect anything, it will absorb the full cost.

The IEC said, “The company is examining all relevant aspects in the decision regarding the collection of system payments and then will make a decision accordingly.”

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 25, 2026.

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