As Europe tries to steer a path through the winter months, Polish municipalities and cities face steep electricity price rises by local utilities for delivery next year, prompting many to announce energy saving measures and spending cuts.
Poland said earlier it plans to freeze prices for households using up to 2000 kilowatt hours (KWh) per year, with higher limits for large families or those with disabled family members.
The price caps would apply to all electricity used by small businesses and vulnerable consumers such as hospitals and schools from Dec. 1 until the end of next year.
Households would pay capped prices above the 2000 kwh limit in 2023, Poland's government added.
"It's a storm that's affecting all of us but we're doing all we can to support companies and Poles," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters.
Capped prices will also apply to contracts that have already been signed, Climate Minister Anna Moskwa told the briefing.
Moskwa said the cost of price caps will be shouldered primarily by utilities based on a formula that will take into account fuel costs, carbon emission rights and other costs including a margin, without providing further details.
($1 = 5.0125 zlotys)
(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki, Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by David Goodman and Alexander Smith)
