The Polish Climate and Environment Ministry has announced the adoption of a new amendment that introduces financial bonuses for households with energy efficiency practices.
Passed on 9 September, the new regulation amends the regulatory framework on the method of shaping and calculating tariffs and the method of billing in the electricity market.
The amendment obliges energy suppliers to implement a new method of billing household consumers, rewarding their “active and efficient” energy consumption behaviours. The activities that will be rewarded include energy savings, consent to receive marketing communications, receiving VAT invoices in electronic form and being a prosumer. As a result, households will be offered tangible financial benefits in the form of lower annual energy bills equivalent to one average monthly bill.
Energy suppliers will be required to clearly inform consumers about changes in the billing, the amount of the bonus and the timing of its allocation. “This initiative aims to increase transparency in the electricity market and strengthen the rights of household consumers,” Poland’s Climate and Environment Ministry said.
The amended regulations are expected to simplify the power system balancing for system operators. The new provisions exempt consumers from charges for non-contractual reactive power consumption and exceeding contracted power, in cases where they result from operator instructions or services provided on their behalf.
These changes are expected to encourage consumers to manage their energy consumption more consciously, increasing the flexibility of the system. They may include additional electricity consumption at the operator’s request during periods of surplus renewable energy generation in the system, without burdening system users with additional power drawn from the system. This is expected to allow system users to actively participate in utilising excess electricity.