Polish Senate Changes the Rules of Support for Energy-Intensive Enterprises. 13 Amendments to the Act on Electricity Subsidies

The Polish Senate has adopted 13 amendments to the Act providing for PLN 4.8 billion in support for energy-intensive enterprises between 2027 and 2030. The changes primarily concern the rules for calculating and allocating aid, the possibility of financing investments through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), and the simplification of the application procedure. However, the scope of enterprises eligible for support has not been expanded. The Act will now return to the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament.

On 27 October 2026, the Senate considered the Act on Support for Entrepreneurs in Energy-Intensive Sectors in Respect of Electricity Costs, adopted by the Sejm on 22 October 2026.

Despite an earlier recommendation from the joint Senate committees, which had supported adopting the Act without amendments, the Senate decided to introduce 13 changes.

The Senate adopted amendments numbered 5, 7, 9, 13, 15, 19, 21, 24, 28, 29, 35, 38 and 51 in Senate Paper No. 891. Some of these amendments were voted on jointly as a single package. The remaining proposals submitted during the Senate debate either failed to obtain the required majority or were not put to a vote because mutually exclusive amendments had already been adopted.

As a result, the Senate proposed a significant change to the operation of the programme: replacing the competitive assessment of investment projects with a simpler procedure under which, if available funds prove insufficient, payments would be reduced proportionally.

What Does the Planned Support Scheme Involve?

The Act provides for the establishment of an electricity cost subsidy programme for enterprises operating in energy-intensive sectors.

A total of PLN 4.8 billion has been allocated to the programme, broken down as follows:

• PLN 800 million in 2027;

• PLN 1.6 billion in 2028;

• PLN 1.6 billion in 2029;

• PLN 800 million in 2030.

The support is intended to cover 50% of the electricity purchased and consumed by an enterprise during the eligible period. As a general rule, the amount of support per megawatt-hour may not exceed 50% of the average electricity price on the competitive market, determined on the basis of data published by the President of the Energy Regulatory Office (URE). At the same time, the subsidy may not reduce the electricity price below EUR 50/MWh.

The Act also provides for the possibility of additional support in 2027 in relation to certain electricity consumption in 2026.

Enterprises benefiting from the programme will be required to allocate an amount equivalent to at least 50% of the total support received to specified investments related to the operation of the electricity system, energy efficiency, electrification or renewable energy sources.

However, the payment of support will be conditional upon a positive decision by the European Commission confirming the programme’s compatibility with the internal market rules.

1. Removal of the Limit on Subsidies in Subsequent Years – Amendment No. 5

One of the more significant changes is the adoption of Amendment No. 5 concerning Article 3 of the Act.

The version adopted by the Sejm provided that the amount of support paid in each of the two years following the first payment could not exceed the amount of support granted in the first year.

This meant that an enterprise receiving a relatively low subsidy in the first year could have been restricted to that level in subsequent periods, even if its costs or eligible electricity consumption increased.

The Senate decided to remove this restriction.

At the same time, the method for determining the total amount of support was amended. Instead of calculating the total as the subsidy for the first period plus the projected amounts for the following two periods, total support is to be calculated as the sum of actual payments made for all eligible periods.

This change may be particularly relevant for enterprises whose electricity demand varies significantly from year to year, for example due to increased production or the commissioning of new production lines.

However, this does not mean that the remaining limits on aid have been abolished, particularly those arising from Article 3(4) of the Act, the programme budget and the rules governing State aid.

2. PPAs as a Means of Financing Required Investments – Amendment No. 7

The adoption of Amendment No. 7, proposed by Senator Waldemar Pawlak, is also of considerable practical importance.

The amendment concerns the range of investments to which enterprises will be required to allocate an amount equivalent to at least 50% of the support received.

The Senate decided to expand this range to include investments in the construction of new or modernisation of existing renewable electricity generation installations, financed with the participation of the enterprise through a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

However, a condition will be that the PPA must serve to finance such investments.

The previous structure of the Act focused primarily on investments undertaken directly by the enterprise, including investments in its own renewable energy sources, energy efficiency or infrastructure designed to increase flexibility in electricity consumption.

The adopted amendment opens up the possibility of recognising certain contractual arrangements in which an enterprise participates in financing renewable energy investments through a long-term commitment to purchase electricity.

However, this does not mean that every PPA will automatically qualify as an eligible investment. It will be necessary to demonstrate a link between the agreement and the financing of the construction or modernisation of a renewable energy installation.

From the perspective of enterprises, this may be an important solution, as it enables the subsidy programme to be linked to long-term electricity procurement strategies without requiring every investment to be carried out exclusively within the enterprise’s own infrastructure.

3. Abolition of the Competition Committee – Amendments Nos. 13, 15 and 51

The Senate also adopted a package of amendments aimed at removing the competition committee from the support allocation system.

Under the original version of the Act, the competition committee was to prepare the list of enterprises selected to receive support. Its members were to include representatives of several government administration institutions and the energy sector.

Amendment No. 13 removes the reference to the competition committee from the title of Chapter 3 of the Act.

Amendment No. 15 repeals Articles 10 and 11, which regulated the establishment of the committee, its composition, operating procedures and rules for excluding members from the assessment of applications.

Amendment No. 51, in turn, repeals Article 32, which required the committee to be established within 30 days of the adoption of the programme by the Council of Ministers.

As a result, the proposed system is intended to rely primarily on procedures conducted by the aid operator, which will be Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), and on the powers of the minister responsible for economic affairs.

The adopted amendments therefore aim to eliminate a separate body responsible for selecting beneficiaries through a competitive procedure.

However, this does not mean that applications will no longer be verified. The system will still provide for checking compliance with statutory requirements and monitoring the correctness of both the granting and use of funds.

4. Abolition of the Points-Based Assessment of Investments – Amendments Nos. 21, 24, 28 and 29

Another group of amendments changes the way applications are considered and how situations in which demand for support exceeds the available budget are resolved.

Removal of the Separate Assessment of Investment Impact

Amendment No. 24 repeals Article 14 of the Act.

This provision required the investment presented in the application to be assessed in terms of its impact on energy security, reduction of energy intensity, reduction of the unit price of electricity, economic efficiency and employment.

The Senate decided to abolish this separate assessment.

Amendment No. 21 also removes from Article 13(2)(2) the requirement to specify, in the call for applications, the assessment criteria and scoring system to be applied if the available budget is exceeded.

Changes to the Documentation Submitted During the Assessment Process

Amendment No. 28 modifies Article 16 of the Act. It removes the requirement to include the results of the technical assessment of investments in the list of applications, repeals the provision requiring the list to be forwarded to the competition committee, and simplifies the range of documents accompanying the list.

The change is both organisational and procedural, as it follows from the abolition of the competition committee and the points-based project selection system.

Proportional Reduction of Payments Instead of a Competitive Procedure

The most significant change in this area is introduced by Amendment No. 29, concerning Article 17 of the Act.

Under the solution adopted by the Sejm, if the total amount of support requested exceeded the funds available under a given call for applications, the competition committee would conduct an additional assessment of applications and award points according to the established criteria.

The Senate replaced this mechanism with a rule requiring a proportional reduction in payments.

Under the adopted amendment, if the budget is exceeded, payments are to be reduced proportionally so that their total equals the maximum amount of funds allocated to the relevant call for applications.

For example, if the total amount of support resulting from the applications included in the list were PLN 2 billion, while the budget for the call were PLN 1.6 billion, a proportional reduction would mean cutting individual payments by 20%.

This example illustrates how the mechanism would operate and does not constitute a forecast of actual subsidy amounts.

The change may be particularly important for enterprises meeting the programme’s eligibility requirements, as it reduces the role of additional investment project rankings in situations where funds are insufficient.

At the same time, proportional allocation of funds does not guarantee that every interested enterprise will receive support. Compliance with statutory eligibility requirements and the conditions of the relevant call for applications will still be necessary.

5. Simplification of Investment Documentation – Amendments Nos. 9 and 19

The Senate also adopted measures aimed at reducing certain documentation requirements at the application stage.

Amendment No. 19 removes from Article 12 of the Act the obligation to provide information about the proposed investment in the application.

It also eliminates the requirement to attach a report containing a positive technical assessment of the investment and a separate description explaining how the investment meets the conditions specified in Article 3(9).

In practice, this change reduces the need to prepare detailed documentation for a specific investment project at the stage of applying for a subsidy.

Amendment No. 9, in turn, removes two elements from Article 5(2) that were to be specified in the government aid programme:

• Detailed requirements concerning technical assessment reports and final technical assessments of investments;

• The method for measuring the programme’s impact on energy security, energy intensity, electricity prices, economic efficiency and employment.

The adoption of these changes may simplify the preparation of applications, particularly for enterprises that are still planning investments related to the energy transition.

However, it should be emphasised that the Senate has not abolished the obligation to invest a portion of the support received or the requirement to demonstrate the proper use of funds.

Moreover, the unchanged Article 23(2) still provides, among other things, for the obligation to submit documents confirming the expenditure incurred and a final technical assessment report on the investment.

6. Less Detailed Requirements for Support Agreements – Amendment No. 35

Amendment No. 35 concerns Article 19(2) of the Act, which specifies the elements of the framework support agreement.

The Senate decided to remove the requirement for the agreement to specify the scope and conditions for implementing the investment indicated in the application.

This change is linked to the removal of the obligation to provide detailed information about the investment at the application stage.

However, it does not eliminate the requirement to allocate the prescribed portion of support to investments that meet the statutory conditions. The provisions concerning the allocation of funds, settlement of support, inspections and potential repayment obligations will continue to apply.

7. Changes to the Rules for Reporting Investment Implementation – Amendment No. 38

The last substantive amendment adopted by the Senate concerns Article 23(1) of the Act.

The Senate removed the reference to the investment “indicated in the application” from this provision, while retaining the obligation to provide the aid operator with information on the completion of the investment in accordance with the conditions specified in the agreement.

The deadline for submitting this information remains unchanged: three months after the expiry of the investment implementation deadline.

This is therefore a change related to the new approach to documenting investments, rather than the elimination of reporting obligations.

The remaining provisions of Article 23, concerning the scope of information provided, verification of the settlement of support and the possibility of conducting an audit, have not been repealed by this amendment.

What Has the Senate Not Changed? The Scope of Eligible Beneficiaries Remains Limited

From the perspective of enterprises, the proposals that were not adopted are equally important.

During the Senate’s legislative proceedings, proposals were put forward to broaden access to the programme significantly.

These included replacing the requirement to generate more than 50% of revenue from specified activities with a requirement to generate at least 25% of revenue from those activities or to use at least 50% of the enterprise’s total electricity consumption for such activities.

Proposals were also submitted to extend support to a wider range of sectors and to remove the requirement to hold the status of an industrial electricity consumer.

None of these changes was adopted by the Senate.

As a result, the Act retains two key conditions that enterprises will have to meet jointly:

• Generating more than 50% of revenue from activities corresponding to the Polish Classification of Activities (PKD) codes listed in the Annex to the Act.

• Holding the status of an industrial electricity consumer included in the register referred to in Article 52(4) of the Act on Renewable Energy Sources.

This means that merely conducting energy-intensive manufacturing activities, even in a sector listed in the Annex to the Act, will not be sufficient to qualify for support.

The Senate also rejected a proposal to extend subsidies to electricity generated by an enterprise and consumed for its own purposes. In this respect, the solution limiting eligible electricity consumption to electricity purchased and consumed has been maintained.

What Issues Remain to Be Resolved?

The adopted amendments introduce significant simplifications, but their ultimate consequences will depend on the Act as a whole.

In particular, the consistency of the procedural provisions following the removal of the competition committee and the separate technical assessment requires further analysis. Not all provisions referring to the assessment of applications or investments have been repealed.

For example, Article 18 still refers to a positive financial and technical assessment, while Article 17(3) retains the minister’s power to approve the list of eligible enterprises. The application of these provisions under the revised procedure may require clarification.

It will also be important for the government aid programme to specify the detailed conditions for granting subsidies and fulfilling the investment obligations.

When Could the New Regulations Enter into Force?

The Act provides for an entry into force date of 1 January 2027.

However, the adoption of 13 amendments by the Senate means that the Act must be reconsidered by the Sejm.

The Sejm may accept or reject the Senate’s amendments in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 121 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. The final wording of the legislation will only be known once this stage and the subsequent legislative procedure have been completed.

Regardless of this, even after the Act enters into force, the granting of support will remain conditional upon obtaining a positive decision from the European Commission.

What Do the Changes Mean for Enterprises?

The amendments adopted by the Senate are primarily intended to simplify the subsidy system, reduce the significance of competitive project assessments and provide greater flexibility in implementing the required investments.

The possibility of recognising certain investments financed through PPAs may be particularly important for enterprises planning to secure electricity prices over the long term and finance new renewable energy sources.

At the same time, the decision not to expand the scope of eligible beneficiaries means that the primary issue for enterprises remains determining whether they meet the eligibility conditions specified in the Act.

The first step should therefore be to analyse the enterprise’s revenue structure in relation to the relevant PKD codes, its industrial electricity consumer status, and the volume and nature of its electricity consumption.

Only after confirming eligibility to participate in the programme will it be appropriate to determine the potential amount of support and the method of fulfilling the investment obligations.

At this stage, the key issue remains the Sejm’s decision on which of the 13 amendments adopted by the Senate will be included in the final version of the Act.

Contact

Krzysztof Wiński
Partner, Thedy & Partners
E-mail: krzysztof.winski@thedy.pl
Tel.: +48 519 506 434

Tomasz Orłowski
Senior Manager, Thedy & Partners
E-mail: tomasz.orlowski@thedy.pl
Tel.: +48 519 504 890