Tuesday (October 31) is the deadline for energy companies to submit energy tariff applications for next year. The President of the Energy Regulatory Office (URE) pointed out that unfreezing prices should be gradual and spread over time, because without freezing prices, next year’s electricity bill could potentially be higher by over 50 percent.
– Today’s settlements with customers are based on tariffs from two years ago. (…) The tariffs that we will approve for next year will reflect current costs, these costs are higher than two years ago. (…) When it comes to tariffs for 2024, we estimate that the entire energy bill could increase by several dozen percent, above 50 percent – said Rafał Gawin, president of the Energy Regulatory Office. on Tok FM radio.
He also added: – If settlements were made based on tariffs from two years ago and those that will be in force next year, we expect that the increase in electricity could amount to several dozen percent.
Electricity prices in 2024 – tariff applications
As he pointed out, the costs of energy companies are now falling, but next year they will still be much higher than two years ago, and it is difficult to expect that within the foreseeable horizon of 1-2 years the costs will fall to the level from two years ago.
– The opinion and experience of the Office suggest that a sudden increase of several dozen percent might not gain social acceptance, hence, in our opinion, it is worth planning the unfreezing of prices, i.e. exiting this program in a gradual and staggered manner – said the President of the Energy Regulatory Office.
He assessed that the regulations regarding possible further freezing energy prices should be adopted as soon as possible, preferably in December, possibly at the beginning of next year.
– Unfreezing should be undertaken and it should be a gradual process that will allow for certain increases in tariffs in some time horizons, to a level that will reach real costs. It is worth programming such a process, said Rafał Gawin.
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