Members of the European Parliament rejected the government’s project to freeze energy prices.
The Sejm decided to reject the government’s bill on freezing energy prices. 239 MPs voted in favor of rejection, 178 against and 16 abstained.
However, the coalition project on the same issue was forwarded for further work in committees. 239 MPs voted against the rejection, 177 voted in favor and 17 MPs abstained.
What are the electricity prices?
Experts warn that Poles will pay much more for electricity next year if protective measures are not introduced. Such mechanisms are operational this year and as a result we do not see the actual rates on our invoices, which were approved a year ago by the Chairman of the Energy Regulatory Office for energy companies.
The officially approved tariffs for households for 2023 are record-breaking and range from PLN 1,057 to 1,130/MWh. This is the result of the energy crisis and a sharp increase in electricity prices on the stock exchange in 2022, mainly due to unrest in the gas market across Europe.
Santander BM analyst Paweł Puchalski warns that it is currently more difficult to estimate next year’s rates than in previous years. He points out that the exchange obligation has been abolished and that electricity sellers no longer record energy in annual contracts on a scale as in previous years.
– Looking at the exchange rates in the contracts for 2024, the rates should be higher than 600 PLN/MWh. However, it is not known what tariffs the chairman of the Energy Regulatory Office will ultimately agree to and whether the new government will decide to freeze electricity prices further, Puchalski told Business Insider.
According to PGE, the average price of the 2024 contracts in the first half of the year was 738 PLN/MWh. This is certainly more than households pay today; the frozen rates are approximately 414 PLN/MWh. In the following months, stock prices fell below PLN 700, but still remain above the limit of PLN 600/MWh. Experts therefore have no doubt that rates could rise by 70%. or stronger, also taking into account the increase in operating costs and their margins,” the portal wrote.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
