According to the list of legislative and program works of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Climate and Environment is working on a draft act amending the Energy Law and the act on renewable energy sources. The planned date of approval of the project by the government is the third quarter of 2021.
According to the information published in the list, the proposed changes result in particular from the need to implement the EU Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market in electricity into the Polish legal system.
The draft act proposes, inter alia, the introduction of regulations on the mechanism of non-market limitation of energy generation from renewable energy sources by electricity system operators.
The project assumes, among others introduction of regulations enabling, from 2026, a technical change of electricity supplier in 24 hours. An access to the tool for comparing electricity sales offers is also to be introduced for electricity consumers in households and micro-entrepreneurs (with an annual consumption of less than 100,000 kWh).
According to the draft, the President of the ERO is to be authorized to intervene ex officio or upon a party’s request in the content of the contract for the provision of transmission or distribution services of gaseous fuels or electricity concluded between the seller and the distribution system operator or the transmission system operator, in specific cases. The President of the Energy Regulatory Office is also to be authorized to independently determine the prices and rates of charges for an energy company in the event of his refusal to approve the tariff to that undertaking, when this decision is justified by the necessity to lower prices and fee rates.
The draft also provides for the introduction of the right of the consumer to conclude contracts with dynamic electricity prices with at least one seller and each seller with more than 200,000. recipients, and the right to be informed about the benefits and risks of such contracts.
The draft also provides for the introduction of the right of the consumer to conclude contracts with dynamic electricity prices with at least one seller and each seller with more than 200,000. recipients, and the right to be informed about the benefits and risks of such contracts.
Full list of issues that will be covered by the project:
1) provisions are introduced to allow for a technical change of electricity supplier in 24 hours from 2026;
2) access for electricity consumers in households and micro-entrepreneurs with an annual consumption of less than 100,000 kWh to the tool for comparing electricity sales offers is introduced;
3 ) introduces the legal framework for the functioning of civic energy communities, regulates their rights and obligations, including the right of the recipient to join the civic energy community while maintaining full consumer rights and to leave the community without sanctions;
4) the recipient’s right to conclude contracts with prices is introduced dynamic electricity with at least one seller and each seller with more than 200,000 customers, and the right to receive information on the benefits and risks associated with such contracts;
5) regulations are introduced regarding the aggregator in the electricity market, its tasks and powers
6) is introduced ę the provisions on the response of demand and customers active on the energy market;
7) the existing rights of customers are strengthened and new rights in the field of electricity sales are introduced (new contractual conditions, obligations regarding settlements, resolving disputes with the seller, information obligations);
8) tasks of the transmission system operator and distribution system operators to the provisions of the directive, including introducing provisions on system services, flexibility services and introducing changes in the field of balancing;
9) adjusting the tasks of the regulator to the provisions of Directive 2019/944, including tasks related to regional coordination, established under Regulation (EU) 2019/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the internal market in electricity, and introduces the possibility of reporting to the President of the ERO by each end user whose rights are related to the performance of duties by the electricity system operator oenergetic, a notification regarding a suspected breach of these obligations set out in the Energy Law, which meets the norm of Art. 60 sec. 2 of Directive 2019/944 and implements the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of October 8, 2020 in case C-360/19 – Crown Van Gelder BV / Autoriteit Consument en Markt;
10) provisions are introduced to regulate the premises governing the ownership rights of energy storage installations by distribution system operators and by transmission system operators;
11) changes are made to the scope of activities of the Negotiation Coordinator, extending the scope of tasks of this entity to new types of contracts introduced to the Energy Law;
12) a mechanism of non-market limitation of generation from renewable energy sources is implemented; sources of energy by electricity system operators;
13) the President of ERO is authorized to intervene ex officio or at the party’s request in the content of the contract for the provision of transmission or distribution services of gaseous fuels or electricity concluded between the seller and the distribution system operator or the transmission system operator, in in certain cases;
14) the President of the ERO is authorized to independently determine the prices and rates of charges for an energy enterprise in the event of the President of the ERO issuing a decision refusing to approve the tariff for this enterprise, when this decision is justified by the necessity to lower prices and fee rates;
15) the provisions on the trademark of the distribution system operator being part of a vertically integrated undertaking are introduced in such a way that it cannot mislead as to the separate identity of the seller being part of the same vertically integrated undertaking;
16) a model contract for the provision of gas transmission services is introduced;
17) provisions are added to provide energy companies involved in the transmission or distribution of electricity or gaseous fuels with a legal basis for the coordination of activities and the exchange of information in the case of applications for connection to the gas network and electricity with a rated voltage of 110 kV and higher, devices, installations or networks that use gas fuel to generate electricity;
18) the doubts concerning the possibility of the storage system operator’s liquefaction or regasification of natural gas are resolved;
19) the fee for connection to the gas transmission network is increased from 25% to 100% of the costs actually incurred by the operator.