Household electricity prices in recent months bore little relation to real production costs, were kept artificially low and treated as an interface with voters. State intervention in this area was necessary in 2022 due to unprecedented price increases on the markets. If the price-freezing mechanisms expire as planned at the end of 2023, electricity prices for households could rise by up to 68% in January. The impact of price spikes should be mitigated. We are proposing a package of solutions: an energy voucher, support for distribution tariffs, additional money for improving the energy efficiency of buildings and a special tariff for heating buildings with electricity.

Over the past two years, natural gas has become a high-risk fuel: it is subject to huge price fluctuations and, following the disruption of supplies from Russia, competition for imports of this resource from other sources is increasing. Not long ago, there were plans in Poland to significantly increase the consumption of natural gas throughout the economy - by 75% by 2035. It was supposed to be a transition fuel.

2022 was another year of unexpected events. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine changed Europe’s approach to fossil fuel imports, particularly from Russia. The resulting energy crisis triggered by high gas prices and the decline in nuclear and hydroelectric production led to record high energy prices across Europe. These events are changing the way European countries look at the energy transition. Meanwhile, the modernisation of the Polish energy sector is still very slow. An overview of the increasingly comprehensive data on the energy sector is published by Forum Energii in the sixth edition of the report ‘Energy Transition in Poland. Edition 2023’.

The energy crisis has highlighted imperfections in the EU power market. The current rules were created almost 30 years ago with the aim to incentivise large conventional power plants, but they now need to be adapted to new challenges.

The results of the seventh auction in the Polish capacity market clearly show the dilemma Poland has faced - existing high-carbon (coal) capacity can no longer be supported with this mechanism, while gas is risky due to the geopolitical situation. Although Polish energy companies have not completely abandoned gas projects, fewer appeared in the auction than previously announced. There is also clearly a greater variety of technologies than before - for the first time, contracts were granted to storage.  The market is still expensive - for the second year in a row auctions ended in the first round and at the maximum price.

Last year the import of gas, oil and coal cost Poland PLN 89 billion. This year, it will be much more - by the end of June it already amounted to PLN 85 billion. The supply crunch and spike in fuel prices have become the source of an economic and energy crisis, and a means of exerting pressure on Europe. Meanwhile, renewables not only reduce emissions and energy prices, but also import dependency on energy resources.

Europe is going through its biggest energy crisis ever. The attention of decision makers is focused on ensuring energy and heat supplies in the coming months. Meanwhile, long-term challenges and problems in the energy sector that have not been solved before are only accumulating. One of them is the future of the largest power plant in Poland.

Transitioning Europe's largest coal power plant to a secure, resilient, affordable clean energy future. New study outlines a transition plan for Europe’s largest coal-fired power plant, located in Belchatow, Poland.

On top of the economic slowdown in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 was the next year when the cards dealt unexpected circumstances that diverged from the previous years of stability. In Europe, we experienced an energy crisis marked by sharp spikes in gas prices and CO2 emission costs. The wartime reality of 2022 means even more uncertainty and market volatility with energy security and independence from imported raw materials becoming the most important topics. Poland continues drifting along in the modernisation of the energy sector, as clearly indicated by data collected by Forum Energii in its annual report “Energy Transition in Poland”.

On February 24, Russia started the Ukrainian war. Nothing will be the same again. Russia's brutal attack made the ongoing conflict around energy resources all the more obvious. In 2021 alone Russia could have earned PLN 500 billion (or $120 billion). from the export of energy resources. This revenue funds the Kremlin's military spending. Now we are considering whether giving up Russian fossil fuels is possible. Undoubtedly, this would be a radical solution with far-reaching and not entirely known consequences. If this were to happen, solidarity and close cooperation within the EU would be more important than ever before. In this article, we analyze what options Poland has to break its energy dependence on Russia.