On Thursday, the Sejm passed a law on preferential purchase of solid fuel by households. Under this legislation, municipalities, municipal companies and associations will be able to buy coal from importers at PLN 1,500 per tonne and then sell it to residents at no more than PLN 2,000 per tonne.

A household will be entitled to buy 1.5 tonnes of coal at a preferential price this year and another 1.5 tonnes after 1 January 2023. To buy coal from the local authority, residents will apply to the municipality for preferential purchase. The solution will be available to those who are entitled to the coal allowance.

The municipality will be able to distribute coal through its own organisational units, selected companies such as municipal companies, an agreement with a coal depot, an agreement with another municipality. It was pointed out that municipalities that bought coal for sale before the new legislation came into force will be able to claim a refund of the price difference.

According to a survey conducted by the Institute for Market and Social Research IBRiS, 50.7 % of respondents for the daily Rzeczpospolita believe that the government, which introduced the embargo on Russian coal, is to blame for the current coal supply problems; 17 % of respondents believe that EU climate policy is responsible for the current problems.

In the opinion of 15.8% of respondents, previous governments, which systematically limited coal mining in Poland, are responsible for the current problems with coal availability. 7.9 % of respondents cited other reasons, while 8.6 % had no opinion on the subject.

More than 46 % of respondents believe that local governments should help the government to distribute coal; 41 % are of the opposite opinion.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński