The highest prices for heat, because they no longer smoke coal. This city is in a dot
The city took to heart the need to give up coal. They gave up. Residents now pay one of the highest heating bills in Poland.
Ostrów Wielkopolski went with the times, and actually sailed. In the spirit of the low -emission heating system, Ostrowski Heating Zakład (OZC) liquidated coal boilers and installed gas boilers in the municipal heat and power plant. The residents’ happiness due to low bills lasted very shortly. There was a disgust.
In 2029, OZC received over PLN 7.5 million in funding for the construction of “high -efficiency cogeneration with two cogeneration aggregates for natural gas” – this is a simultaneous production of electricity and heating. Thanks to this process, energy efficiency increases, because waste heat is recovered, which would be lost in conventional systems, which allows you to reduce fuel consumption and reduce costs.
The money came from the European Operational Program Infrastructure and the environment implemented by the NFEPWW. The entire investment cost just over PLN 20 million. Everything was going to a better one, Gigajul cost only PLN 49, but in 2022 a war broke out in Ukraine.
High prices swing for heating in Ostrów Wielkopolski
Carbon prices increased from PLN 300 to PLN 2,200 per ton, gas increased by 500 percent, and carbon dioxide emissions fees reached EUR 100 per ton. As if that was not enough, the tariff system of the Energy Regulatory Office rewarded coal companies – the president of OZC Mariusz Bolach explained in the local Wyborcza.pl website.
The average price of heat generation with compensation was PLN 150.95/GJ for sources of heat -fired heat or heating oil, but only PLN 103.82/GJ for other sources, including coal.
Ostrowski Plant Ciepłodowy was waiting for a year for the decision of the President of the Energy Regulatory Office regarding the update of heat prices due to the increase in costs, which almost led the company to bankruptcy. In anticipation of the Deviats Decision of the Energy Regulatory Office, the city introduced the program “Lower heat bills”. It was used by over 800 inhabitants of Ostrów. Thanks to the program, their bills were lower by an average of PLN 120.
Departure from gas and penalties for greenhouse gas emissions
In 2023, when fuel prices began to stabilize in Poland, the Ostrowski plant was only after 10 months. Another conclusion of March 2024 with a proposal of PLN 71 per GJ was rejected by the office. And so over and over again.
Inhabitants of Ostrów Wielkopolski still pay one of the highest rates for heating in Poland, i.e. PLN 90 for GJ. For comparison, in Kalisz it is PLN 58, in Konin PLN 42, and in Krakow PLN 70.
Higher rates from Ostrów have, among others Veolia in Warsaw – PLN 96 and PGE in Rzeszów – PLN 95, but this is no consolation for Ostrów. The European Union has already decided to leave gas in the perspective of 2040 and the entry in 3 years of the ETS2 greenhouse gas emission system. What will this affect the bills for heating the inhabitants of Ostrowiec Wielkopolski? We know.
