Freezing energy prices. Tusk must find PLN 5 billion

The new government will be appointed in a few weeks and only then will we find out whether the shield freezing energy prices will continue to apply in 2024 or whether this form of household protection will be ended.

The parties announce the extension of gas shields

Minister of State Assets Jacek Sasin announced that if PiS remains in power, he will propose a draft law extending the maximum energy price from 2023 to next year. There is no specific legislative proposal yet, but the Ministry of Climate has developed several variants of such solutions.

The Civic Coalition is not in debt: in “100 specifics for 100 days” it made a declaration that it would freeze gas prices in 2024 for households and sensitive customers (including schools, kindergartens and hospitals) at the level of 2023 rates.

Let us remind you that the so-called the solidarity shield provides for maximum prices up to a certain level of consumption. For households it is 3,000 kilowatt-hours of consumption, for families with a disabled person – 3,600 kilowatt-hours, and for farmers and holders of the Large Family Card – 4,000 kilowatt-hours.

Is there any point in further freezing gas prices?

Some experts believe that further freezing of prices is no longer justified, because in the meantime (the freeze has been in force since February 2022), electricity prices have stabilized at the level of frozen prices or even lower.

– However, energy is now two or three times cheaper. It is still expensive and will remain expensive, but not as a result of the energy crisis, but of our outdated energy mix – said Łukasz Batory, lawyer, head of the energy department at the Modrzejewski i Wspólnicy sp.j. law firm, in an interview with “Rzeczpospolita”.

money.pl asked Grzegorz Onichimowski, one of the advisors of the Civic Coalition and former president of the Polish Power Exchange, how much it will cost to maintain frozen gas prices at the 2023 level. In his opinion, it will cost approximately PLN 5 billion.

– Prices should be maintained until the end of 2024. After that, we will slowly return to market levels. The trends are such that there will be no need to freeze them further, he added.

While the extension of the shield for farms is questionable, the shield for bakeries and confectioneries that was launched in April will certainly cease to apply at the end of the year.

Grzegorz Onichimowski is of the opinion that extending this protection is not necessary. –We are aware that market prices have dropped significantly. Therefore, maintaining maximum limits for bakeries and confectioneries is pointless, because market prices are lower than guaranteed prices. It would be completely unnecessary, he said.