Electricity & gas in Poland: your rights
The rules that protect you as an electricity and gas customer in Poland, and who to contact. Every fact is checked on an official source.
What is going on?
Everything at a glance
The market
Every household can choose its electricity and gas seller. Most households still use a tariff offer with prices approved by URE; market offers (fixed, indexed or dynamic prices) also exist.
Dispute resolution
Koordynator do spraw negocjacji przy Prezesie URE · free
First complain to your energy company yourself (e.g. a written complaint) and keep copies. The contact must be less than one year old. Disputes of 50 to 50,000 PLN; result is not binding.
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Porównywarki ofert URE (Masz wybór)
Switching supplier
Sign a new comprehensive contract; the new seller notifies the grid operator, who must complete the switch within 21 days (24 hours once your grid operator uses the CSIRE system; large operators from 19 Oct 2026). Open-ended contracts end free of charge; for fixed-term contracts signed after 23 Oct 2023 any fee is capped at the seller's direct loss.
Price rises
Your seller must explain any price change clearly at least one month before it takes effect (not for dynamic-price contracts). If you do not accept other contract changes you may terminate; prices in URE-approved tariffs are not negotiable.
Regulated price
Households can buy electricity at a URE-approved tariff from the four default sellers (PGE Obrót, Tauron Sprzedaż, Enea, Energa Obrót): on average 495.16 PLN/MWh net in 2026, just below the 2025 frozen price, so no freeze applies in 2026. Household gas tariffs are approved by URE for the last time for 2027.
Help if money is tight
A 'vulnerable electricity customer' (someone receiving housing allowance, dodatek mieszkaniowy) can get a flat-rate energy allowance. Apply at your municipality (wójt, burmistrz or prezydent miasta) with a copy of your electricity contract. It is paid monthly.
Protection against cut-off
Supply can be cut if you are at least 30 days late with payment, after a written warning giving you 14 more days. Within those 14 days you can ask for an alternative (e.g. payment plan) or file a complaint, which stops the cut-off. Vulnerable customers cannot be cut off from 1 Nov to 31 Mar or on weekends and holidays.
If your supplier goes bust
If your electricity seller stops supplying, a reserve seller (sprzedawca rezerwowy, the obligated seller in your grid area) takes over automatically so power keeps flowing. Its prices can be much higher, so compare offers quickly; you can leave with 7 days' notice.
Power cut
Report a power cut to your grid operator on 991 (24/7). If quality standards or maximum outage times are exceeded, you are entitled to a discount (bonifikata) set in the tariff; for outage times you must request it, and it is granted within 30 days.
Cooling-off period
Energy contracts signed by households outside the company's premises (e.g. at your door) are void since 3 July 2021. Contracts made at a distance (phone, online) can be cancelled within 14 days without giving a reason.
Smart meter
Grid operators must install remote-reading meters for at least 80% of households by 31 Dec 2028. The operator pays for the meter and installation.
Solar panels
New prosumers (since 1 April 2022) sell surplus solar power at market prices; its value goes into a prosumer deposit used to pay future bills. Since 27 Dec 2024 the deposit value is increased by 23%. Older prosumers keep their previous scheme.
Free energy advice
Free information line of URE for household customers: 22 244 26 36, Mon-Fri 8:00-15:00. Low-income households on district heating could claim the 2026 bon ciepłowniczy (applications closed 31 Aug 2026).
Fixed and dynamic contracts
Sellers with at least 200,000 customers must offer dynamic-price electricity contracts (on offer since 24 Aug 2024; you need a remote-reading meter). A 2026 amendment also obliges them to offer fixed-term contracts with a guaranteed fixed price, for 12 months and longer.
- Sellers must start offering fixed-price contracts within 9 months of the amendment (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 516) taking effect. The seller may not terminate such a contract early; if you leave early, a household pays at most the seller's direct economic loss. (api.sejm.gov.pl)
- With a dynamic price the cost follows hourly market prices. URE warns that without shifting use to cheaper hours your bill can rise. The one-month notice of price changes does not apply to dynamic contracts. (ure.gov.pl)
Energy sharing and communities
Flat residents can share solar power from an installation on their building as a collective prosumer (prosument zbiorowy), or use an installation of up to 50 kW elsewhere in their own grid operator's area as a virtual prosumer (prosument wirtualny).
- A collective prosumer installation is a micro-installation (up to 50 kW) or small installation (up to 1 MW) in a multi-flat building; the ministry offers a model agreement between the residents. (gov.pl)
- Consumer prosumers (individual, collective or virtual) can complain to the grid company about connection and billing; it must answer within 14 days, otherwise the complaint counts as accepted. If rejected, you can go to the URE negotiation coordinator within 14 days. (api.sejm.gov.pl)
Heating without the gas grid
District heating prices of licensed heat companies are set in tariffs approved by the President of URE (except the part for small heat sources up to 5 MW meeting legal conditions). Your heat supplier must answer written complaints within 14 days, or 30 days if investigation is needed.
- Complaint deadlines of heat companies (12 hours by phone, 14 or 30 days in writing) are listed in URE's consumer FAQ. (ure.gov.pl)
- The President of URE decides disputes about a refused supply or connection contract and about an unjustified stop of supply, at the request of a party. (api.sejm.gov.pl)
Grants for heat pumps and insulation
Czyste Powietrze (run by NFOŚiGW with the regional WFOŚiGW funds) subsidises owners of single-family houses for insulation, new windows and doors and replacing old heating. New rules apply to applications from 20 July 2026.
- Moje Ciepło: grant of up to 30% or 45% of eligible costs (max 21,000 PLN) for a heat pump in a new single-family house; applications online until 26 Feb 2027 or until funds run out. (mojecieplo.gov.pl)
Charging an electric car at home
In a block with more than three flats you need consent from the housing community, cooperative or manager to install a charger at your own parking space. They must commission a feasibility report within 30 days and decide within 30 days after it; you pay all costs.
- You need a legal title to a flat and a parking space for your exclusive use; tenants also need the flat owner's consent. In a wspólnota, consent for a charger under 11 kW is an ordinary management decision. (isap.sejm.gov.pl)
- If the building's wiring was designed for chargers, no report is needed; if you cover all costs and get no answer within 30 days, you may install the charger. (isap.sejm.gov.pl)
Back-billing and estimated bills
If a meter or reading error made bills too high or too low, the company corrects the invoices for the whole period affected. Claims for sale of energy by a business expire after 2 years (Civil Code).
- Civil Code art. 554 with art. 555: 2-year limitation for sales of energy. After it expires, the claim cannot be enforced against a consumer. (api.sejm.gov.pl)
- Estimated bills are based on your actual use in the same period last year; tell the company about big changes. With a remote-reading meter you can choose billing on actual readings. (eli.gov.pl)
- From 5 Sep 2026 a billing period for electricity may not exceed 2 months for new contracts; longer periods in older contracts may continue until 31 Dec 2028 at the latest. (eli.gov.pl)
- An overpayment is credited to the next bill unless you ask for a refund; an underpayment is added to the next invoice. (eli.gov.pl)
Prepayment meters
Any household can ask its grid operator for a prepayment meter (for a fee); it must be installed within 60 days. A vulnerable customer gets one free within 21 days. The company may also install one at its own cost, e.g. after payments were over a month late twice within 12 months.
- With a prepayment meter you buy energy in advance (customer office, online or shops) and enter a code; standing charges still apply. Refusing a meter the company is entitled to install can lead to supply being stopped. (ure.gov.pl)
Energy costs for tenants
In a multi-flat building the owner or manager (wspólnota, spółdzielnia) buys the heat and splits the cost between flats by a method set in its own billing rules (regulamin rozliczeń). Charges may only cover the actual purchase cost; information on costs is free.
- The billing rules must be given to residents within 14 days of being introduced. You must get a free statement of heat costs at least once a year, and monthly consumption data where heat meters or cost allocators are used. (api.sejm.gov.pl)
- URE says it does not decide how a housing community or cooperative splits heat costs between flats; this is set by the building owner or manager. (ure.gov.pl)
Vulnerable and medical customers
Vulnerable customers (electricity: housing allowance; gas: fuel lump sum) can ask their seller for a support programme for arrears, such as a payment delay, instalments or write-off; the seller must reply within 21 days.
- A household where someone receives long-term home care for chronic respiratory failure needing mechanical ventilation can also apply (attach the care qualification). Such households, like vulnerable customers, cannot be cut off from 1 Nov to 31 Mar or on weekends and holidays. (api.sejm.gov.pl)
Grid connection
Apply to your grid operator for connection conditions (warunki przyłączenia). For a household (groups V and VI, up to 1 kV) it must issue them within 21 days of a complete application, 30 days for group IV. The connection fee follows the operator's URE-approved tariff.
- If the operator refuses a connection contract it must tell you and URE in writing with reasons; the President of URE decides disputes about refusal, including a higher connection capacity. (api.sejm.gov.pl)
- Electricity connection conditions are valid for one year from delivery. (api.sejm.gov.pl)
- You need a legal title (ownership, lease) to the property or flat to be connected; the connection contract must state the deadline, fee and liability for delays. (ure.gov.pl)