Act on electricity prices

On January 1, 2019, the Act of December 28, 2018 amending the act on excise tax and certain other acts (the so-called Electricity Price Act) became applicable.

According to the above legal act energy companies dealing in electricity trading, which after June 30, 2018, has concluded the contract for the sale of electricity or complex contracts with a price higher than specified in the contract effective before that date or higher than indicated in the price list referred to in art. 5 sec. 1 p. 2 of the Act (applied to new clients), is obliged to change the terms of this newly concluded contract.

The amendment to the terms of the contract is supposed to reduce the price of electricity to the maximum prices set in the price list (art. 5 sec. 1 p. 2 of the Act), no higher than those applied by the energy entrepreneur by 30^th of June 2018. The change should take into consideration the new rate of excise tax on electricity, introduced by the described Act. So far, the electricity consumers were burdened with excise tax in the basic amount of PLN 20 per 1 MWh but from January 1, 2019, this tax is PLN 5 per 1 MWh.

The Act introduces high fines for energy companies that will not comply with the obligations imposed by the Act (up to 5% of revenue from licensed activities achieved in the previous tax year).

The amendment to the terms of contracts concluded after June 30, 2018 should take place until April 1, 2019, with effect from January 1, 2019.