Polish minister sees energy price cap ending this year

Enea SA

12/03/2025 08:46

WARSAW, March 12 (Reuters) - Falling wholesale prices should allow the government to end its cap on energy bills in the last quarter of the year, Polish Climate Minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska said on Wednesday.

Poland has been capping power bills for vulnerable consumers since 2022 to cushion the blow from soaring energy prices, and has been paying compensation to offset costs to power utilities. The cap, which has been extended several times, is in place until the end of September.

Poland's central bank has repeatedly cited energy prices as a policy risk, saying that lifting the price cap could contribute to higher inflation.

"Electricity tariffs are set by an independent regulator, but I expect prices to be at a level that won't require state  intervention," Hennig-Kloska told Wirtualna Polska portal.

Prices for households are now capped at 500 zloty ($129.90)per megawatt-hour (MWh), but wholesale power prices are below that level, she said, adding that she would press the state-controlled utilities to reflect that in their tariff proposals.

"Companies must have money for investments to continue to transform, to produce more energy from renewable energy sources, but they must also take into account the public interest," she added.

($1 = 3.8491 zlotys)

 (Reporting by Marek Strzelecki
Editing by Christina Fincher)

 ((Marek.Strzelecki@thomsonreuters.com;))