What goes on in Poland on the 18th of December.
Compensation of energy prices is not a solution
The Ministry of Energy has presented a compensation program for 4-5 billion zlotys for higher energy prices for households, small and medium-sized enterprises as well as for other recipients, such as hospices. Aleksander Śniegocki, an expert at a think tank WiseEuropa said in an interview with BiznesAlert.pl that he believes it’s sweeping problems under the carpet. – It does not eliminate factors that affect the increase in energy prices, but only constitutes a form of co-financing from funds originating, among others from the sale of CO2 emission permissions and budget. This means that we all have higher energy costs as a society all the time, but we eliminate the incentive to solve this problem. In terms of system, it is a dangerous move and boils down to pretending that there has not been a real increase in energy costs – said the interviewee of BiznesAlert.pl.
„Post-soviet thinking”
However, no criterion for obtaining compensation has been introduced. Śniegocki, asked whether in that case, everyone will be able to apply for it, said that this is not a reasonable solution. – Energy prices affect the competitiveness of only part of the energy-intensive heavy industry that is exposed to competition from abroad. In this case, the covers are understandable. There has also long been a pan-European legal framework that indicates how to introduce them. The government is working on appropriate solutions. Adding common compensations to this will negatively affect our economic development. Energy is one of the production factors, but also an element of consumption. Developed economies try to optimize its consumption, noticing the real costs of its production. The poorer are caught in the trap of subsidies and high energy consumption trying to pretend that something that is expensive is cheap. This is the thinking about energy typical of post-Soviet countries, being a plague for local societies. It is very worrying that instead of seeking to save energy and invest in solutions that will permanently make us independent of fluctuations in fuel and emissions prices, we allocate public funds to finance compensation, thus depleting resources for development purposes – said the expert of WiseEuropa.