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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland has introduced maximum retail prices for petrol and diesel, as the government seeks to shield consumers from the surge in fuel costs caused by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Retailers caught selling above the cap face fines of up to 1 million zloty (€233,000).
The price caps are part of a package of measures, which also includes temporary cuts to VAT and excise duty on fuel, unveiled last Thursday by the government before quickly being approved by parliament and signed into law by President Karol Nawrocki on Friday.
“None of us has any influence over what is happening in the Middle East,” said energy minister Miłosz Motyka, quoted by news website Forsal. But “the Polish government will do everything to provide relief to Polish families in this moment of crisis”.
Włączamy niższe ceny! #CenyPaliwNiżej pic.twitter.com/EQYkKcmaxR
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) March 30, 2026
The new price caps – which, starting from today, are set daily by the energy ministry – are intended to ensure tax reductions are passed on to consumers rather than absorbed by fuel companies. They are set to remain in place until 30 April.
The level of the cap is calculated using a formula based on average wholesale fuel prices, taxes, a fuel surcharge and a fixed retail margin of 0.3 zloty per litre. If announced before weekends or public holidays, the rate will remain in effect until the next working day.
Under the new rules, the maximum price on Tuesday is 6.16 zloty (€1.44) per litre for 95-octane petrol, 6.76 zloty per litre for 98-octane petrol, and 7.60 zloty per litre for diesel.
Motyka says that the new prices are around 1.2 zloty per litre less than on Monday. According to price aggregator service CenyPaliw, Tuesday’s caps are around 0.8-1 zloty per litre, or 11.3-11.7%, lower than their average over the seven days up to Monday.
Separately, a regulation cutting excise duty on fuels to the lowest levels allowed by the European Union took effect on Monday and will remain in place until 15 April. VAT on fuels has also been reduced from 23% to 8% between 31 March and 30 April.
The finance ministry estimates that the excise duty cut will cost the budget around 700 million zloty per month and the VAT cut around 900 million zloty. Tusk says, however, that the government could consider a windfall tax on fuel companies if they are found to be making excessive profits.
After the government unveiled its plans last week, a European Commission spokesperson noted that EU law does not permit VAT on fuels to be cut.
However, media outlets Polskie Radio and Wirtualna Polska report, based on unnamed EU sources, that the commission is unlikely to take action against Poland as it recognises the exceptional context of concerns over energy security and prices amid the current crisis.
Poland plans to cut VAT and excise duty on petrol and diesel after the latter's prices hit record highs amid the Middle East conflict.
Prime Minister @donaldtusk said the measures could lower prices by about 1.2 zloty per litre before Easterhttps://t.co/6GCGOxQFcD
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 26, 2026
The main opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), has supported the government’s measures but criticised it for acting too slowing, noting that it tabled its own proposals to cut VAT in early March.
“What could have happened three weeks ago…is happening today,” said PiS’s candidate for prime minister in next year’s elections, Przemysław Czarnek, who dubbed the introduction of the new measures a “Czarnek effect”. “Putting pressure on those in power makes sense. We will keep doing so.”
Czarnek also called on the government to cut VAT on food to zero, as the PiS government did in 2022 when inflation was surging. But finance minister Andrzej Domański rejected the idea, noting that inflation is currently around 3% whereas three years ago, when PiS was in power, it was around 16%.
Presja na rządzących ma sens. Będziemy ją wywierać cały czas. Dla Polaków.
To co mogło się stać już trzy tygodnie temu, bo wówczas zgłosiliśmy odpowiedni projekt ustawy, ma miejsce dzisiaj – ceny paliw w dół!#EfektCzarnka pic.twitter.com/f0Y8utmRfi— Przemysław Czarnek (@CzarnekP) March 31, 2026
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Jakub CA/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 4.0)
Alicja Ptak is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She has written for Clean Energy Wire and The Times, and she hosts her own podcast, The Warsaw Wire, on Poland’s economy and energy sector. She previously worked for Reuters.
