51 percent Polish households have paid more for energy over the last year, 30 percent – that they paid the same as before, and over 18 percent – less. These are the results of the study for the Polish Economic Institute’s report on energy poverty.
As PIE emphasizes in the report “Four faces of poverty. Polish households during the energy crisis 2021-2023” published on Tuesday, the largest increase in energy fees was declared by households whose main heating source is a coal, wood or biomass stove. Half of households using district heating declared that the level of heating expenses had not changed or had decreased. 21% also declared lower costs than before. households using gas furnaces. The survey on a sample of 1,000 households for the report was conducted in September 2023.
The Institute pointed out that despite the crisis, 18.4 percent households declared that they paid less for energy than in the year preceding the crisis. Analyzing the results of the PIE study, he also noted that households that decided to install photovoltaic panels or heat pumps were statistically more than 2.5 times more likely than others to declare that they paid less for energy than in the year preceding the study.
Photovoltaic owners pay less
28 percent households that paid less for energy benefited from support for the purchase of photovoltaic panels, heat pumps, for replacing a furnace or for thermal modernization of the building. Using such forms of support doubles the chance of paying lower bills – emphasized the Institute. 21 percent of this group have photovoltaic panels or solar collectors, 17%. uses a heat pump, 9 percent uses heat pumps or solar collectors as an additional heat source, 7 percent stopped using coal as the main source of heating
PIE indicates that 90 percent from the group of households that declared that they pay more for energy than in the past did not change their primary heating source in the last five years, and 61 percent did not benefit from any public support programs. 21 percent Those paying more took advantage of support for the purchase of coal, and using this support – according to PIE – meant a 1.24 greater chance of paying higher bills.
The Institute emphasized that the two groups of Polish households – referred to in the report as active-transformational and passive-emissions – did not differ in income in a statistically significant way. According to PIE, this may suggest that difficulties in accessing public support in the area of long-term, energy-saving solutions, as well as the readiness to change one’s own practices in the area of energy use, do not have to result from a lack of money.
Lack of “cultural capital”, not financial
Barriers to access to support may lie in the area of cultural and social capital, rather than economic capital. Their precise identification, possible using qualitative research and consistent policy at the local level, may play a key role in the fight against Polish energy poverty in the future, says PIE.
In the report, the Institute also notes that although the energy crisis may have encouraged people to burn harmful but cheap fuels, for every surveyed household that sometimes started burning lower quality fuels, there are four that stopped using such fuels. 6 percent declared that although they had used poor quality fuels in the past, they had given up doing so in the last 12 months, while 1.5% declared that they had started using these fuels despite not using them before. households. 4 percent declared that waste is burned for heating purposes.
