Poland will not avoid the liberalization of electricity tariffs

The analyzes of the Polish Electricity Association (PKEE) show that it is possible to carry out the process of freeing electricity tariffs for households in a way that will not lead to unjustified increases in electricity prices for this group of end-users of electricity.

The increase in prices of carbon dioxide emission allowances (resulting from the tightening climate policy of the European Union) causes an increase in the costs of electricity generation, and thus - an increase in energy bills in the EU Member States, including Poland. At the same time, due to rising gas and coal prices, heating costs are rising, which in total may result in an increase in the scale of energy poverty. Taking into account the new declarations and plans of the European Commission in the field of legislation, a further increase in energy prices in the EU should be expected. Analyzes show that tariff liberalization, combined with appropriate social policy tools (e.g. energy supplement), can contribute to a fairer and more stable distribution of energy costs so that real help is provided to those most in need. The current system of electricity tariffs for households financially supports all electricity consumers, regardless of their income, including the richest ones.

The necessity to change the method of setting electricity tariffs for individual customers in Poland is inevitable. It results from the already applicable Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market in electricity. The deadline for transposing this EU directive into national law was December 31, 2020. Poland is one of the last countries in the EU where the vast majority of households use tariffed electricity prices.

(WBJ)