Poland’s Ministry of Economics has enacted a package of laws on energy, including a new Energy Law Act (the “New Energy Law”), as a response to the EU’s “third energy package”, i.e. the Directive No. 2009/72/EC concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity, the Directive No. 2009/28/EC on the promotion of energy from renewable sources, the Regulation (EC) No 713/2009 establishing an Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators and the Regulation (EC) No 714/2009 on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity.
Under the New Energy Law the regulations concerning natural gas and renewable energy sources will be excluded from the current Energy Law Act. This is intended to systemize and optimize the solutions in such excluded fields. The main changes will affect the support systems for the producers of green energy (to a great extent specified within the act on renewable energy sources), the smart grid systems and the systems of protection for sensitive recipients of electric energy.
Planned changes in the support system of renewable energy sources are designed to further increase the share of renewable energy in the energy market as a whole. Energy produced from the renewable energy sources will be given priority in transmission and distribution. The planned amendments will also require transmission system operators and distributors to receive electricity produced from renewable energy sources.
The New Energy Law will also implement a system of the so called smart metering. This is aimed at improving the country’s energy security, as well as greater efficiency and rationalization in energy usage. Therefore, the distribution system operators will now be required to install smart meters for each customer at their own expense. These meters are intended to measure the amount of electric energy and electronically transmit the information to the operator.
In order to put an end to the phenomenon of energy poverty there will also be a support system for sensitive recipients. Their electric bill will be reduced by a lump sum amount based on the threshold of energy consumption and household size. Consequently, participating energy enterprises that issue reduced electric bills will be reimbursed from the state budget.
Finally, the New Energy Law also modifies the functional regulations of the energy market. It redefines a transmission system operator and distributor, as well as the rules of grid connection, which will include a presumptive connection fee. Furthermore, it introduces new rules for determining the purchase price of energy. These rules take into account the reasonable costs of efficient performance of duties by the operators and are calculated so the costs of consumption, upgrading and diversification of energy sources are not passed on to consumers in the entirety. Currently, the project is in the stage of public consultation and the proposed changes can yet be amended.