Electricity price in Poland

Energy bills – Electricity price in Poland

Price of the bills for electricity and gas within last year significantly increased. As reported by ure.gov.pl “Urząd Regulacji Energetyki” (The energy regulatory office), in case of an electricity price, bills increased for around 11-12% (!) in case of regular private client. If you have a hope, that your electric energy bills will be reduced, I need to disappoint you. All the signs indicate opposite trend. Scenario for nearest future is: “year by year higher price for electricity and gas”. Unless we will be able to produce energy from renewable sources on our own.

But how does the billing system work? What are the billing types. Can I change something at this point?

These were the questions asked by my colleague from work. So Inna, if you are reading this – this article is dedicated to you I will try to answer these questions. But first I need to explain briefly, how does the billing system work. I also need to mention, that this is the first part from mini-series of articles related with bills. In the nearest future, I am also planning to release posts about bills for gas and municipal bills (water, sewage and garbage fee). If you want to get notification about it, follow my profiles on social media or subscribe my newsletter. Below list of a content from current article.

• How do we calculate electric energy consumption?
• What are the electric energy tariffs?
• Is the difference in the bills real?
• Free to download Excel file with electric energy usage calculator
• Which tariff is the right choice for you?
• Price comparison portal

Electric energy consumption – Electricity price in Poland

If you want to compare the price of electricity, you would need to define what is your current usage of electricity per month. We measure this with amount of kWh. For example, if your TV has power consumption around 60 Watt, then 1x full hour of working will consume 0.06 kWh. So, half hour of working for the same TV, will consume half of mentioned value, what equals 0.03 kWh. Also, if you watch TV everyday for around 2 hours, it results with 60 hours per month. So, 60 hours x 0.06 kWh = 3.6 kWh. Taking into the consideration current average price of the electricity from March 2021 (0.73 zł gross of G11 tariff), using such TV in a model taken for our example, monthly cost will be 2.63 zł.

60 hours x 0.06 kWh = 3.6 kWh

3.6 kWh x 0.73 zł = 2.63 zł

Cost of watching TV, with nominate power 60W, 2 hours per day for whole month (30 days)

Not much, right? Knowing this, we need to remember, that we a have a bunch of devices at home, which are consuming a lot of electricity. Dishwasher, washing machine, game console, desktop, fridge which works 24/7 and many more. On the base of Rachuneo’s report from March 2021, we can see that average electricity consumption for average polish household oscillates around 200 kWh. Taking into consideration average gross price, monthly bill for electricity will be 146 zł gross.

200 kWh x 0.73 zł = 146 zł

Monthly cost of electricity for avarage Polish household

What are the electricity tariffs?

So, what are the tariffs for electricity? At the very beginning, I need to mention that I will describe here tariffs for household only. I can tell you though, that electric energy for companies is much more expensive than for a household. Anyway, household tariffs are divided into 3 main types:

• G11 – the most popular energy tariff in Poland. If you did not pay attention to what tariff you are using, then your bill probably has the G11 sign. This means that you pay the same electricity rate 24/7.
• G12 – it is a two-zone tariff, depending on the time of day. The lower and higher rate for energy consumption applies. Lower rates apply at night, usually from 22:00 to 6:00. Also, in case of some operators, 13: 00-15: 00 – so-called daily service. At other times, the rate is higher.
• G12w – Also known as the weekend rate. It operates based on the G12 tariff, except the fact that the lower tariff for energy applies for weekend, from Friday evening (22:00) to Monday morning (6:00). Of course, also every night 22:00 to 6:00 and optionally as in case of G12, between 13: 00-15: 00

Is the difference in the bills real?

It depends on what lifestyle you lead and what hours you spend your time at home. The G11 tariff is a good choice for people who use electrical devices almost in the same way during the day as in the evening. If you belong to the group of people who spend most of the day away from home, the G12 tariff will be more advantageous. Especially when you spend your evenings on entertainment and household chores. If you use electronics mainly at weekends, choose the G12w tariff. Let’s take an example of our avarage 200kWh per month.

Tariff type	zł / kWh net
Tariff G11	0.37 zł
Tariff G12 – low	0.24 zł
Tariff G12 – high	0.46 zł
Tariff G12w – low	0.24 zł
Tariff G12w – high	0.49 zł

Scenario 1

I am using electric energy equally during the day and night through whole week.

Energy usage – G11	kWh	Price
Total price of G11	200	74.68 zł
Energy usage – G12	kWh	Price
Total of “Low” usage	100	23.83 zł
Total of “High” usage	100	46.10 zł
Total price of G12		69.93 zł
Energy usage – G12w	kWh	Price
Total of “Low” usage	100	23.83 zł
Total of “High” usage	100	49.22 zł
Total price of G12w		73.05 zł

This scenario is very possible for those of you, who are working from home. We can easily see that the difference between G11, G12 and G12w is not so big if we would use the energy equally during the day as during the night. But what if we would be able to move electric energy usage hours for the night or the weekend? Let’s have a look on Scenario 2.

Scenario 2

Energy usage – G11	kWh	Price
Total price of G11	200	74.68 zł
Energy usage – G12	kWh	Price
Total of “Low” usage	160	38.13 zł
Total of “High” usage	40	18.44 zł
Total price of G12		56.57 zł
Energy usage – G12w	kWh	Price
Total of “Low” usage	160	38.13 zł
Total of “High” usage	40	19.69 zł
Total price of G12w		57.82 zł

G11 with 74.68 zł and around 57 zł in case of G12/G12w. Using one of G12 tariffs in such case, allows us to reduce 25% of net energy cost. By the way – did you notice what is the difference between net and gross price per 1 kWh in G11? 0.37 net vs 0.73 gross. Around 49% (!) of energy cost are the taxes and additional fees. I will come back to it in the summary.

I am attaching below Excel calculator which I used for making above posted calculations. You can edit values in there and check the best outcome for yourself. This should help making right decision while choosing proper tariff.

Anyway – message here is simple. If we would be able to reduce energy usage during the day and plan in advance using household devices during the weekend or at night, we have a real chance to reduce the price of the bills for 20%, maybe 30%. It does depend on us. But how can we achieve it?

Which tariff is for me?

Choose G11 in case:

• if you focus on the comfort of using electrical devices, regardless of the tariff zone,
• you cannot translate the operation of household appliances / electronics to a cheaper zone,
• if you do not use electricity to heat your house / apartment,
• you don’t want to change your daily habits to use cheaper electricity.

Choose G12 / G12w in case:

• you are looking for an opportunity to save on your electricity bill,
• electricity is used to heat a house or apartment,
• you use energy more often in the cheaper zone – you work 8am to 4 pm and you come back to home late evening, so majority of household chores will be done during the late evening or weekend anyway.
• if you have no problem to change the hours of using energy-consuming devices. You need to take into the consideration, that in case of using appliances as loud as washing machine, your “housing association” allows it and that your device will be quite enough to do not disturb quite hours during the night of your neighbors.

But what are the real behaviors which can help you using cheaper zone?

• In case of baking or cooking – try to do it between 13 and 15 or after 22.
• If you need to mow the lawn with electric mower, or vacuum entire house, do it during the weekend.
• Set up the dishwasher and washing machine with delay (newer devices allow it), in order to make them start between 13 and 15 or during the night hours (of course, only if your device is quite enough and if this is possible in the place where you live).

Price comparison portal

Remember that you have the right to choose your electric energy provider and the type of the tariff. Once again, I will provide you link to my favorite types of a websites: search engines and comparison portals. In this case, it is about Rachuneo, which allows you to compare all available offers in your area, on the base of your zip code. I advise to find proper provider and contact him directly, via his website. As you choose subscription for longer period (2-3 years), I strongly recommend thinking about additional specialist who should be included into such contract. I described it already in my previous post – click here.

Summary of Electricity price in Poland

I hope this clarifies the way how electricity providers are charging us and how can you validate alternative options for yourself. Armed with a new knowledge, check if you are not overpaying for your bills and see if you can generate any savings which you can spend on things which you really like. I assume, that no one likes to pay bills

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