Abstract Under the Colombian prior consultation experience, it is normal for agreements with ethnic communities to deal with labor relations and capital contributions to strengthen communities’ self-government and to carry out productive projects. On the other hand, it is less common for these protected groups to obtain benefits from services or products that involve the development of measures subject to consultation. Here, the importance of considering the adaptation of the current Colombian energy regulation is raised by applying energy justice theory to situations where communities coexist with the energy projects and are disaggregated from the energy supply. Noting that these types of actions will be essential to accomplish the purposes of the energy transition and support the transformation to carbon–neutral economies, we will be aiming to respond to highly complex scenarios, typical of regions that accumulate a prominent social debt, mainly related to poverty reduction.