New Investment Opportunities In Renewable Energy Give Energy Consumers The Opportunity To Get Lower Prices Thanks To Direct Belt (Off-Grid) Legislation, Which Enters Into Force In September 2023

• Published date: 11 September 2023
• Subject Matter: Consumer Protection, Energy and Natural Resources, Energy Law, Oil, Gas & Electricity, Consumer Law, Renewables
• Law Firm: DeBenedetti Majewski Szczesniak Kancelaria Prawnicza Sp.K.
• Author: Piotr Frelak

Polish law finally allows for the wider use of off-grid energy. This solution can be applied en masse and benefits renewable energy producers and large energy consumers. It thus opens up new investment opportunities and can accelerate the energy transition.

End of grid monopoly in Poland

The demand for energy in Poland is growing. Energy prices have also been rising for several years. Energy consumers are therefore looking for ways to reduce energy costs. From September 2023, new provisions of the Energy Law enter into force, which will help to put an end to the grid energy monopoly. They allow for the sale of energy directly by generators and energy consumers and save on distribution charges. They create an opportunity for the development of renewable energy sources and savings for large energy consumers.

An alternative to grid energy

Until now, the regulations have provided for a limited choice: either you consume energy from the grid or you have to rely on your own energy source (off-grid) exclusively. Hence, consumers did not take this choice into account. They could not afford a potential downtime caused by a lack of electricity, a situation that cannot be avoided when using solar or wind energy.

Therefore, consumers had no choice but to use energy from the grid and pay distribution charges. In theory there was a regulation on direct belt between the power station and point of consumption of energy. However, permission for construction of the belt required the consumers to give up energy from the grid. Therefore, until 2023 the Energy Regulatory Office did not issue a single permit for the construction of a direct belt.

The energy market used to look like this: all the generated energy was fed into and drawn from the grid. This solution favoured distribution system operators, though it was detrimental to small-scale producers (wind and solar power plants) and large energy consumers such as factories, production plants, warehouses or server rooms. These entrepreneurs could not even use the energy from their own solar panels without the intermediation of the grid. As a result, few of them used the roofs of their buildings or factory grounds for renewable energy sources.

Direct belt - the legal solution of sale of energy directly to business

The grid monopoly continued in Poland for many years despite the fact that as early as in 2019 an EU directive stipulated that consumers could use private energy sources independently of grid energy (Article 7(3) of...