“Do you remember when Minister Motyka phased out the heating shields because he was going to introduce a heating voucher? There was supposed to be support for 400,000 people, and it turns out that only a few qualified,” noted PiS MEP Waldemar Buda.
Heating voucher – support only for the selected few
At the end of 2025, the freeze on electricity prices at PLN 500 per MWh, introduced several years earlier by the PiS government, ceased to apply. From January 1, 2026, although the energy price itself, billed according to tariffs, is slightly lower than a year earlier, distribution charges have increased at the same time. Higher rates include, among others, network costs, capacity, cogeneration, RES, and quality charges.
Meanwhile, the heating voucher designed by the “December 13 coalition” is available only to households connected to a municipal district heating network. People using their own furnace, gas heating, a heat pump, or any other heat source do not qualify for support. Additionally, the heat price must exceed PLN 170 net per GJ; in many large cities, this threshold is not met, so residents receive no assistance.
Income limits also apply: PLN 3,272.69 for a single person and PLN 2,454.52 per person in a multi-person household. The “PLN-for-PLN” rule applies, and the minimum payout is PLN 20.
As a result, the support mainly reaches some residents of apartment blocks and tenement houses connected to expensive district heating networks. At the same time, electricity bills are rising for almost everyone. The lower energy price does not offset the higher distribution fees and the capacity charge. An average family pays about PLN 70-80 more per year, and with higher consumption, the increase is even greater.
“This is Motyka, and this entire coalition”
PiS MEP Waldemar Buda addressed the issue in a video published on social media. The politician recalled that “Minister Miłosz Motyka promised a heating voucher for 400,000 people.”
“The Sejm has already passed the heating voucher act. Those who might be affected by these increases will receive support,” Motyka had promised.
MEP Buda emphasized that the rules introduced by the December 13 coalition government mean that “very few people meet the criteria for receiving a subsidy for heating prices.”
“Imagine that in a city like Wrocław, out of 140 applications, only 10 people receive this kind of voucher. So this year, in this harsh winter, the promised help is exactly the same as that electricity price cut; he cut it so much that he ultimately increased the price of electricity. This is Motyka, this is the entire PSL, and this is the whole coalition. This is the kind of help we get from his ‘electricity price cuts,’ which ultimately made electricity more expensive. The first heating bills this season will be a nightmare,”
Buda concluded.