The end of April brought information about new tariffs for the sale and distribution of gas. PGNiG says it will be more expensive. The government is preparing an energy voucher to help some households. Electricity prices are also expected to change.
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The gas price for household customers and a group of other entities covered by tariff protection was frozen in mid-December 2022. It amounts to PLN 24.62/kWh gross. The rates are to increase from July 1 (although the new tariffs are effective from January 1). What amounts does PGNiG provide?
The website money.pl writes that from July, bills will increase by an average of 50-60%.
- Price for high-methane gas E
Increase from PLN 24.62/kWh to PLN 35.79/kWh gross
Lw subgroup – increase from PLN 24.62/kWh to PLN 35.79/kWh gross
Ls subgroup – increase from PLN 24.62/kWh to PLN 36.29/kWh gross
Subscription rates and distribution costs will also increase.
mBank Research analysts point to the reason for the increases.
In their opinion, the increase in gas fees is a technical issue resulting from the fact that the current tariff approved by the Energy Regulatory Office (approximately PLN 290) is above the frozen price of around PLN 200. To this should be added distribution rates.
mBank points out that if the Energy Regulatory Office decides to reduce the tariff in the meantime, for which there are market reasons, the increases may amount to 15-20%.
The government will try to address the increases with an energy voucher. In total, approximately 3.5 million households will be able to benefit from it.
The condition for granting the voucher will be the income limit – PLN 2.5 thousand. PLN for a single-person household and PLN 1.7 thousand PLN per person in a multi-person household. In the case of higher incomes, the “PLN for PLN” principle will apply.
The beneficiaries of the voucher are to be not only low-income households, but also “sensitive electricity consumers and those households which, due to the excess square footage per person in the premises they live in, have been excluded from the housing allowance.”
This will apply in particular to sensitive electricity consumers living alone in single-family houses in small towns and villages and in a difficult financial situation.
The voucher will also cover retirees with a benefit below the minimum pension or pensioners with a benefit equal to the minimum pension.
As Interia initially calculates, a single-person household can count on PLN 300, although with an income of PLN 2,750 we will only receive PLN 50. When two or three people live in the household, the voucher will increase to PLN 400. In the case of four or five people it will be PLN 500, and PLN 600 if more than 6 people live in the household.
We wrote about freezing electricity prices with the information provided by Minister Henning-Kloska.
The currently applicable maximum price of electricity for households is PLN 412 net – excluding VAT and excise duty – per 1 MWh for consumers who do not exceed the limits (depending on the number of children and whether there are disabled people in the household or the recipient runs a farm, half from 1.5 MWh to 2 MWh).
mBank analysts estimated that after the adoption of the energy voucher act, electricity bills will increase by 11-13%, and the increase in the energy category will amount to 4%.
According to ING analysts, the new regulations will cause electricity bills to increase by 13 percent, adding 0.6 percentage points to inflation.