A draft bill submitted to the Sejm by the conservative PiS will seek to block energy price increases for individual recipients, entrepreneurs, and local governments, opposition MP Przemysław Czarnek has announced.
As reported by wPolityce, Czarnek said the legislation was necessary to counter the high prices facing Polish consumers as a result of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government.
At a press conference on Monday in Lublin, the opposition MP explained the bill would contain demands submitted in a citizens’ bill signed by approximately 140,000 people, which was rejected.
“When Mr. Speaker Hołownia will put it up for debate, what the calendar of work on this bill will be, depends on him. We appeal to Mr. Speaker to do it as soon as possible because Poles need to be saved from poverty,” said Czarnek.
The bill will include a provision on the maximum price for individual recipients at the level of PLN 420 per megawatt-hour, while a cap on energy and gas prices will also cover entrepreneurs and local governments, throughout the entire year for the latter.
Czarnek said that the price increases, such as a 100 percent spike for butter and 30 percent for gas, are the result of the Tusk-led government’s policies. He emphasized that the act recently adopted by the Senate provides for a price cap of PLN 500 per megawatt-hour for individual consumers, not PLN 420 as before. In addition, for local governments, the maximum energy price will apply for only three months.
“The government has forgotten about entrepreneurs, all those service providers and companies that also produce this food,” Czarnek noted. In his opinion, this will cause another price increase next year.
Last week, the Senate did not make any amendments to the government’s draft bill on freezing electricity prices for households at PLN 500 per MWh net until the end of September 2025, and it will now go to the president. According to this, local government units and sensitive entities would have a maximum price of PLN 693 per MWh net until the end of March 2025.
Inflation has been an ongoing issue for Poles, and high prices are likely to be a deciding factor for voters in the presidential election set to be held next spring.
With energy prices 11.5% higher than this time last year, Poland's inflationary rate is expected to remain higher than the EU average, well above the National Bank of Poland's 2.5% target. https://t.co/LmMsfGoBuB
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 31, 2024Recent polls have the Law and Justice (PiS) candidate for president, Karol Nawrocki, gaining on the Tusk-led Civic Coalition (KO) candidate, Rafał Trzaskowski, with the latest CBOS poll showing Trzaskowski at 46 percent and Nawrocki at 34 percent. The November CBOS poll had the KO candidate at 50 percent and PiS at just 24 percent.
