The assistance will be targeted at companies whose business is endangered due to soaring costs, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
The move comes after Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced last week that the government would provide support to energy-intensive firms.
EUR 3.7 bn until 2024
Under the plan, the companies in question, several hundred in total, stand to receive over PLN 5 billion (EUR 1.1 billion) this year, more than PLN 8.2 billion (EUR 1.7 billion) in 2023 and over 4.1 billion (EUR 870 million) in 2024, according to the state news agency PAP.
The government said that in August of this year, the average price of natural gas at the Energy Commodities Exchange (TGE) was 420 percent higher than the year before.
Meanwhile, the price of electrical energy rose by 263 percent over the same period, according to officials.
Such price increases have already forced some Polish firms, notably in the ceramics and metallurgy industries, to suspend some of their production, “jeopardising many thousands of jobs,” the bill says.
Public assistance will be available to energy-intensive companies whose electricity and gas costs equal at least 3 percent of the value of their output, and those that have experienced at least a 100-percent spike in energy prices, officials said.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP