According to long-term contracts being signed this year for 2027, Poland will have the most expensive electricity in Europe. We will pay almost twice as much for it as the French. Added to this is the cost of introducing ETS2, which in Poland is also expected to be record-high on an EU scale. “This will hit the entire Polish economy and the development of our country,” politicians from Law and Justice (PiS) warn in an interview with Gazeta Polska Codziennie.
Under the long-term electricity contracts currently being concluded for 2027, Poland is set to have the highest electricity prices in Europe – 440 PLN per MWh. For comparison, in France it will be 220 PLN.
“This is an unbelievable situation that strikes at the entire Polish economy, our overall development, and our future development strategy. After two years, Tusk’s government has led us to this disgraceful podium. Two years ago, energy prices on these same exchanges showed that we were at the European average. Soon we will be the most expensive in Europe. This will make our economy uncompetitive,”
says Tobiasz Bocheński, a Member of the European Parliament from Law and Justice.
In his view, such costs will discourage modern, energy-intensive industries from investing in Poland.
Former Minister of State Assets Jacek Sasin warns that the government is holding back the development of nuclear energy. While in the case of the plant in Pomerania, one can speak of a slowdown, the second project has virtually come to a standstill.
“For two years, we have had a danse macabre around the construction of two nuclear power plants in the government program. This government cannot even choose a location for this project, one that we had already prepared and were ready to announce at the turn of 2023 and 2024. The government is playing politics with the location issue, trying to defuse social tensions: at one point saying it will be in Bełchatów, at another in Konin. This shows there is no will to move these projects forward,”
says Jacek Sasin.
He adds that the topic of a third nuclear power plant has been completely abandoned.
“This was a very realistic project that, within a dozen or so years, would have given Poland a modern nuclear power plant based on Korean technology. This plant was to be built without a single PLN from the state budget. It was to be fully financed by commercial entities: both state-owned companies and the Korean side, which declared significant financial involvement. When I was leaving the ministry, there was a declaration on the table for the Korean side to take up to a 30% capital stake. As for debt financing, even go up to 49% of the investment costs. This project was killed,”
says Sasin.
According to the former deputy prime minister, without a nuclear power plant, Polish society will find itself in a dramatic situation. This is due to the ETS system, which imposes charges on the dominant emitting power plants, artificially inflating electricity prices. As Sasin claims, the energy sector has paid over 30 billion PLN for CO₂ emission allowances. Including other sectors such as heating and industry, more than 40 billion PLN has been spent on allowances.
As it turns out, most of this money has flowed abroad. Only 18 billion PLN has returned to Poland. “More than 20 billion PLN has flowed out to financial institutions trading in CO₂ certificates. This system is not only shackling the economy but also a way of draining enormous sums of money from Poland that could otherwise be used for modernization,” says Sasin.
Law and Justice politicians warn that in 2028, the ETS2 system will come into force. It will cover emissions from buildings heated with solid fuels.
As with the first system, Poland is expected to be hit the hardest among EU countries.
PiS politicians declare that they will not implement ETS rules. “The number one task for all Polish politicians is to reject this climate para-tax, ETS, which will burden Polish families and our economy with enormous costs,” appeals Janusz Kowalski.