69th International Atlantic Economic Conference

March 24 - 27, 2010 | Prague, Czech Republic

Evaluation of the Liberalization Process for the Electric Energy Market in Poland

Friday, 26 March 2010: 10:00
Aleksandra Lech, Ph.D. , Institute of Economics, Technical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
The essence of the liberalisation of the electric power market in Poland lies in the TPA regulation (Third Party Access) which obligates the owners of the net and the transferring installation to allow the access of the energy seller offering the best price and the best terms of delivery (it means a quarantee of the realization of the commercial agreement with the chosen seller).

As per the Directives no.96/92 and 2003/54 of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union concerning the common regulations of the internal energy market, on the 1st July 2007 there was introduced in Poland the principle of the free choice of the electric energy seller. It means that each actor including the household consumers obtained the right to conclude the agreement with the selected energy seller.

The aim of presented paper is:

  1. To present the following steps of the competition introduction into the sector of the Polish electro-energy (this process already started in 1990, when the sector of the electro-energy was divided into the subsector of the energy production , transfer and distribution; next step done in 207 meant the isolation form the distribution companies the subjects realizing the service in the energy transfer and the subjects dealing with the energy sales.
  2. The detailed evaluation of the TPA principle realization, done on the basis of the engagement of the Polish energy consumer in the process of the change of the seller (on the 4 September 1998 the biggest industrial energy consumer received the right as the first ones to change the energy seller, hence comes the time frame of this analysis from 4th September 1998 to 31st December 2009).
  3. The identification of the most important economic and technical barriers in the change of the energy seller in Poland, so it means the barriers making difficult the introduction to practice the principle of the free access of the third party to the net.

The analysis allows for conclusion that the introduction of the market mechanisms into Polish electro-energy proceeds very slowly, but the degree of the competition constantly increases. But one must remember that the transfer and distribution of the electrical energy cannot depend upon the competition as the space of natural economy