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Article 20, entitled ‘Promotion of the use of renewable energy sources for the generation of electricity’, of Lietuvos Respublikos atsinaujinančių išteklių energetikos įstatymas No XI‑1375 (Lithuanian Law No XI‑1375 on renewable energy sources) of 12 May 2011 (Žin., 2011, No 62‑2936, as amended by Law No XII‑169 of 17 January 2013) provides, in paragraphs 1 to 3 and 6: ‘1. The generation of electricity from renewable energy sources and the balancing thereof constitute a public interest service. The State shall define the general principles, the procedure and the conditions applicable to the payment of fixed rates established pursuant to this law and the procedure determined by the Government and to the sale of electricity generated from renewable energy sources by approving the description of the procedure for the provision of public interest services and the description of the procedure for promoting the generation of energy from renewable sources. 2. The generation of electricity from renewable energy sources shall be encouraged, in accordance with the public interest services procedure established by the Government, by paying the difference between the fixed rate established for a producer and the rate of the electricity sold by that producer according to the procedure laid down by the Government, which cannot be lower than the average price on the electricity market for the preceding month, calculated according to the procedure established by the [NCECP]. 3. Fixed rates shall be established and promotion quotas for power plants with an installed power capacity of more than 10 kW shall be allocated by auction with a view to accomplishing the objectives referred to in Article 13(3) of the present law. Promotion quotas and the auction regions, together with the procedure for allocating promotion quotas for power plants with an installed power capacity of less than or equal to 10 kW shall be established and approved by the Government. Separate auctions shall be organised for the connection to regional electric systems for each group of producers within the time limits set by the [NCECP] but no later than 180 days after a producer’s request that auctions be held for a given group of producers and region. All of the producers which signed the letter of intent referred to in Article 14(11) and provided a guarantee of discharge of producers’ obligations referred to in Article 14(13) of the present law shall be entitled to participate in auctions. The maximum fixed rate shall be established by the [NCECP] every quarter. Auctions shall be won by the participant who has offered the lowest intended fixed rate, having regard to the fact that the maximum installed power capacity of a generation system in an auction region cannot represent more than 40% of the maximum heat generation capacity in that region which can be connected. … … 6. The [NCECP] shall assess, quarterly at the most, the development of production capacity of electricity generated from various renewable energy sources, taking account of the volume of electricity actually generated during the previous calendar year, of the cumulative installed power capacity of active power plants and the cumulative installed power capacity of planned power plants. The maximum amounts of the fixed rates shall be revised on the basis of the examination of the development of production capacity of electricity generated from various renewable energy sources and its compliance with the objectives and tasks defined in the national action plan for renewable energy. The maximum amounts of the revised fixed rates shall apply only to producers whose power plants have been authorised to generate electricity after the date on which those rates become applicable.’