Poland’s government has pledged to guarantee a set price for coal in order to allay concerns that rising prices will result in households – over 35% of which use coal for heating – struggling to afford supplies.
“We have decided on a compensation mechanism at the level of entities which import coal to Poland,” announced climate and environment minister Anna Moskwa yesterday. As well as households, the programme also covers housing cooperatives and homeowner associations.
The guaranteed price will be 996.60 zloty (€214) gross per tonne, which corresponds to the average price last year, revealed Moskwa. Households will be allowed to purchase up to three tonnes of coal at that price.
Szefowa resortu klimatu i środowiska @moskwa_anna w #KPRM: Proponujemy gwarantowaną cenę węgla dla gospodarstw domowych na poziomie 996,60 zł. pic.twitter.com/AAF8ODvqYv
— Ministerstwo Klimatu i Środowiska (@MKiS_GOV_PL) June 14, 2022
Companies opting to sell coal at lower prices will receive compensation for potential lost profits, up to 750 zloty per tonne. The condition will be to register the company in Poland and to offer coal at a fixed price. The government will allocate 3 billion zloty (€644 million) for the entire programme.
According to Statistics Poland (GUS), a state agency, 36.5% of households used coal to heat their homes in 2018. Soaring coal prices – which rose by 26% in the first quarter of this year – have led to concerns that many will fall into energy poverty, especially when the heating season begins in the autumn.
Poland also generates around 70% of its electricity from coal, by far the highest proportion in the European Union.
W latach 2002-2018 obserwujemy spadek ogrzewania mieszkań węglem i drewnem na rzecz ogrzewania gazowego i elektrycznego.
⚡ https://t.co/JyHGju3fGN#GUS #statystyki #energia #smog #klimat #węgiel #środowisko pic.twitter.com/NUGqZCd2IO
— GUS (@GUS_STAT) January 24, 2020
“Russia’s attack on Ukraine is the main reason for an increase in coal prices,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement. The war has seen energy prices rise globally, while Poland also introduced an embargo on Russian coal in April in response to Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine.
But rising prices are “also the result of increased demand for coal from 2021 onwards due to, among other things, limited availability and high prices of natural gas as a result of the actions of Russia’s Gazprom”, added the prime minister’s office.
In April, Russia halted gas deliveries to Poland after Warsaw refused to comply with Moscow’s demands to pay in roubles.
Main photo credit: Yaroslav Maltsev / Unsplash
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
