Poland to grant households €630 allowance to buy coal for heating

Poland’s government has approved an allowance of 3,000 zloty (€630) to households to help them buy coal after admitting that a recently introduced plan to cap skyrocketing prices has failed. Around 35% of Polish homes use coal for heating and a total of 11.5 billion zloty (€2.4 billion) will be allocated for the new programme.

“Thanks to the proposed regulations, households will be able to use a one-off coal allowance, which will amount to 3,000 zloty,” announced climate minister Anna Moskwa today. “The allowance will be granted to households for which the main source of heating is coal.”

With global fuel prices soaring since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and Poland’s decision in April to ban imports of coal from Russia adding to supply problems – there are fears that many households will struggle to afford heating this autumn and winter.

Last month, the government announced that it was introducing a guaranteed maximum price for coal of 996.60 zloty per tonne. Sellers would be compensated for lost profits, but only up to 1073.13 zloty per tonne. As market prices had already reached 3,000 per tonne in June, the optional programme proved unpopular with businesses.

At the weekend, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki admitted that there had been “problems” with the system and “that in the coal warehouses there is no willingness to cooperate that we expected at the beginning”.

Under the new system announced today, the maximum prices will be scrapped and state money will go directly to consumers rather than coal sellers. Moskwa announced that the previous rules will remain in force for any businesses willing to participate until the new programme is implemented.

The new allowance will be available to households where the main source of heating is coal or pellets containing at least 85% hard coal. “There are no income criteria, which means anyone who has such a heater can apply,” said Moskwa.

Households wishing to participate in the programme must apply by 30 November this year. Then the relevant municipality has up to one month to pay the granted allowance, which will not be taxed.

According to Statistics Poland (GUS), a state agency, 36.5% of households used coal to heat their homes in 2018. Although Poland is a big producer of coal, much of that is used for electricity production, and higher-quality coal is imported for home heating. Most of that used to come from Russia.

On Monday, the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily reported that the government has ordered state-owned companies to purchase 4.5 million tonnes of coal. But representatives of the ministry responsible for overseeing state-owned enterprises indicate that this is not feasible.

In an effort to ease the situation, the government announced earlier this month that it was suspending quality standards for the burning of coal for home heating. Environmental groups, however, warn that the decision will cause great harm in a country that already has some of Europe’s most polluted air.

Main image credit: Rudy and Peter Skitterians/Pixabay 

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.