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.
MILLER, CANFIELD,
W. BABICKI, A. CHEŁCHOWSKI I WSPÓLNICY SP.K.
ul. Batorego 28-32
81-366 Gdynia
Tel. +48 58 782-0050
Fax +48 58 782-0060
gdynia@pl.millercanfield.com
ul. Nowogrodzka 11
00-513 Warszawa
Tel. +48 22 447-4300
Fax +48 22 447-4301
warszawa@pl.millercanfield.com
ul. Św. Mikołaja 7
50-125 Wrocław
Tel. +48 71 337-6700
Fax +48 71 337-6701
wroclaw@pl.millercanfield.com
Disclaimer: This publication has been prepared for clients and professional associates of Miller Canfield. It is intended to provide only a summary of certain recent legal
developments of selected areas of law. For this reason the information contained in this publication should not form the basis of any decision as to a particular course of
action; nor should it be relied on as legal advice or regarded as a substitute for detailed advice in individual cases. The services of a competent professional adviser
should be obtained in each instance so that the applicability of the relevant legislation or other legal development to the particular facts can be verified.