Current sellers require an average of over 30%. increase in 2019

As she recalled, as in previous years, the Bureau has requested four so-called office vendors – PGE, Tauron, Enea, Energa – have submitted tariff applications for 2019. The ERO has received requests Tariffs for sale of energy on November 15.

– Companies are asking for significant increases, above 30% on average. We are currently conducting tariff procedures – informed the Office spokesperson. As stressed by Agnieszka Głośniewska, the level at which electricity charges will be billed in 2019 in households will only be known once the pricing process is complete.

The binding tariffs for energy sales to residential customers are valid until 31 December of this year. In order for the new rates to come into effect early in the year, the ERO president is expected to complete the procedure in mid-December.

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On November 26, we reported: Facts and myths about electricity price increases. In terms of surcharges, nothing is settled

"DGP" has checked the evolution of the subject of more expensive electricity, promises and bans.

You may feel dizzy by the price increases of electricity. And not because they have materialized, but because the subject has evolved considerably in recent months. Let's try to organize it.

There will be no price increase for individual consumers in 2019.

In August, we wrote in the "DGP" that the Minister of Energy, Krzysztof Tchórzewski, urged the companies controlled by the Treasury not to raise the price of electricity for consumers (tariff G) . We calculated that the absence of increases corresponds to a loss of 3 billion zlotys of income per year for producers.

In an interview granted to "DGP" at the end of August, the head of the Energy Regulatory Office, which approved individual consumer tariffs, said that "we are in the middle of the day. he could not imagine that these would not rise, among other things because of the expensive coal on which our energy is based, but also because of record prices of CO2 emission rights.

However, Minister Chórzewski has not changed his mind. During the last week of September, a month before local elections, he said: – The ability of energy companies to request an increase in the price of energy is the subject of an analysis depth.

He however assured that there was no question of increase for households.

On October 13, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in FMR FM said: – Next year, the Energy Regulatory Office does not provide, to my knowledge, for tariff increases for households. "At the same time, he added that" it is a hysteria caused by some media.

He announced work on higher price compensation for energy-intensive companies, where the tariff is not regulated.

On October 16, we wrote in the "DGP" that PGNiG, which does not need the agreement of the Energy Regulatory Board, offers its customers an increase 66.6% of the price of electricity for the coming year.

They will be compensated

In mid-October, in an interview with "Rzeczpospolita", who described for the first time the plans for the "Energy +" program, Minister Tchórzewski admitted that the government was working to compensate for the rising prices of energy. 39, electricity, in a conversation with the PAP who said that "in the case of an energy bill the electricity should exceed 5% in 2019, the Ministry of Energy will introduce a bill to mitigate the social impact of the EU's climate policy. "He pointed out, however, that increases should not exceed 5%, as this would be" socially unacceptable ".

On October 23rd, in the "DGP", we quoted the head of URE, Maciej Bando, of the Europower conference, in which he stated that "the coming months will be a very difficult time for the energy sector. Energy, it will have to face the expectations stemming from the election campaign – often unrealistic ".

On November 19 at "DGP", we revealed that four energy companies controlled by the Treasury had submitted to the ORE requests for G tariff increase for 2019, even by 30%. We will know the decision of the President of the Energy Regulatory Office regarding their contribution in mid-December.

There will be subsidies for all households

The day after the publication of DGP, Minister Tchórzewski changed his mind and announced that compensation for rising energy prices in tariff G in 2019 would cover all households, without exceeding 5% . economic growth, not the first fiscal threshold, as he said earlier, because the audit would be too expensive. – It almost looks like the bill will not change, the accounts will be made by the provider. These will be grants, which will be included in the budget, a fund will be created, from which it will be settled – said the minister.

There were doubts here. First, it was mentioned that the money subsidies would come from trade in CO2 emission quotas. Now it is not so safe.

Doctor hab. Filip Elżanowski, legal adviser to the law firm Elżanowski Cherka and Wąsowski Kancelaria, told the "DGP" that in the case of a transfer of funds directly to energy companies, it would be necessary to notify the public aid to the European Commission. We calculated this in the case of a 10% increase in energy prices. for tariff G, about PLN 0.7 billion will be needed per year. Minister Tchórzewski on Wnet radio spoke of "more than a billion zlotys".

He also pointed out that several billion zlotys would be needed to offset the rise of small and medium enterprises.

The government is divided

Finance Minister Teresa Czerwińska seemed surprised by the courageous statements of the head of the Ministry of Energy. According to our interlocutors, she was expecting a support system for the poorest. It should be noted that price regulation in Tariff G is already a protective framework (prices for this year increased by 0.5%, but they decreased by almost 5% in previous years, but they were also less than 1% previously). Compensation would therefore be double-sided support. We asked the Finance Ministry last Thursday for its position on this, but to close this issue of the newspaper, we did not get an answer to our questions.

On Friday, Foreign Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz added fuel to the fire, and Maciej Głogowski of TOK FM sought compensation for small and medium-sized businesses. – I do not know such a project. Compensation should be based on a legal act, and I have not yet designed it. We are finalizing work on a package for energy-intensive companies, but these are large entities, not small and medium-sized enterprises. Such energy-hungry packages exist in many EU countries – said Emilewicz.

The rise in electricity prices is also a problem of local governments. We tried to ask the Minister of Energy for possible support after presenting the assumptions of the state's energy policy, but he did not want to talk about it.

Karolina Baca-Pogorzelska, "Dziennik Gazeta Prawna"

26/11/2018