Owners who heat their homes with natural gas, fuel oil and coal in various forms do not have it easy in Poland. The EPBD directive is fast approaching, in which the EU will allow subsidies (from the Clean Air program) for energy-saving furnaces using fuel oil and natural gas until the end of 2025.
- As the Ministry of Environment and Environment informed Farmer.pl, from January 1, 2026, there will be a total ban on co-financing natural gas and fuel oil furnaces from the Clean Air program.
- In Poland, from 2027-2028, an ETS2 emission tax will also be introduced on fossil fuels burned in households, which will make coal, eco-pea coal and natural gas more expensive, as they will be covered by the new tax in Poland.
- Prices for home heating costs will increase by as much as PLN 1,200 and more per year. And according to Forum Energii experts, they will grow even faster.
- The costs of heating not only with gas but with coal, eco-pea coal and fuel oil will gradually increase from 2028. However, we will feel them most from 2030. This will be a breakthrough year when the annual costs of heating houses with gas (also coal, fuel oil) will increase significantly compared to heating using e.g. heat pumps.
The protection packages do not include home owners who use electricity for heating with heat pumps. High electricity bills, combined with a change in the method of billing prosumers, resulted in a noticeable slowdown in the development of photovoltaics and heat pumps in 2023. Heating installations based on natural gas are gaining popularity, and their operating costs will start to increase rapidly from 2030.
Additionally, as reported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, from 2026 there will be a total ban on co-financing natural gas and fuel oil furnaces from the Clean Air program.
Heating costs, not only with natural gas, will grow faster and faster
However, this is not the end of bad news for house owners who heat their homes with energy-saving emission installations, i.e. natural gas, propane-butane, fuel oil or eco-pea coal.
In Poland, from 2027-2028, an ETS2 emission tax will also be introduced on fossil fuels burned in households, which will make coal, eco-pea coal and natural gas more expensive, as they will be covered by the new tax in Poland.
Prices for home heating costs will increase by as much as PLN 1,200 and more per year. And according to Forum Energii experts, they will grow even faster.
The costs of heating not only with gas but with coal, eco-pea coal and fuel oil will gradually increase from 2028. However, we will feel them most from 2030. This will be a breakthrough year when the annual costs of heating houses with gas (also coal, fuel oil) will increase significantly compared to heating using e.g. heat pumps.
According to analyzes by Forum Energii experts, the annual costs of heating with natural gas will exceed PLN 8,000. PLN in 2023 and within 2 years they will increase to 10 thousand. PLN in 2036. In 2040, the annual costs of heating a house with gas will exceed over PLN 12,000. PLN, while the costs of heating with electricity (heat pumps) will be maintained at a constant level of approx. PLN 7-8 thousand. PLN per year. The same applies to owners of heating installations for eco-pea coal, coal and heating oil.
Apparent savings in gas heating only until 2030.
The slower heating systems based on electricity from renewable energy sources develop, the faster the number of gas-based solutions increases. Households today, making calculations based on inconsistent and distorted market signals regarding the prices of electricity and raw materials, see savings in installing a blue fuel boiler.
However, these are only apparent and short-term savings. After 2027, the use of natural gas and coal will become more and more expensive as fees for emissions from buildings (ETS 2) will come into force.
Those who invested in heat pumps in insulated buildings made a good decision. From the perspective of the twenty-year period of operation of the devices, the heat pump is a cheaper solution. By the end of the decade, electricity prices should fall, among others. thanks to the development of renewable sources, but the cost of gas will increase due to upcoming fees for emissions from this source. However, in fact, there is a problem now when heat pump owners pay more during the transition period – points out Tobiasz Adamczewski, director of the renewable energy program at Forum Energii, author of the report “Buildings in a gas trap”.
This is not the end of the changes. From 2030, owners of new houses will be banned from using zero-emission heating installations.
Ban on installing heating installations based on coal, gas and oil from 2030.
According to the new EPDB directive, from 2030, all newly constructed buildings, including residential ones, i.e. houses, will have to be zero-emission. What does it mean?
Renovated buildings or new buildings, including residential ones (including houses), which will be built so that the total annual primary energy consumption comes entirely from renewable sources generated on-site or near the building, e.g. from an efficient heating and cooling or zero-emission system.
More importantly, zero-emission buildings according to the EU directive cannot generate (on site) any carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.
This means that in new buildings, including houses, from 2030 it will not be possible to use heating completely for:
- coal;
- eco-pea coal;
- heating oil;
- natural gas.
More importantly, boilers and furnaces fueled by coal, gas and eco-pea coal will be prohibited, even in hybrid combination with photovoltaic panels or a heat pump. Why?
Because in accordance with the amendment to the EPBD directive, new buildings will not be able to emit carbon dioxide from fossil fuels, i.e. coal, eco-pea coal and natural gas, even if they have photovoltaic panels or heat pumps as the main heating source. The directive provides for exceptions, e.g. for agricultural buildings, religious buildings and monuments.
In turn, from 2040, heating using fossil fuels, i.e. coal, eco-pea coal, gas or fuel oil, will be completely phased out throughout Poland. In practice, this also means a ban on the use of non-energy-efficient furnaces and boilers.
There is no effective system of co-financing and supporting owners of heat pumps and photovoltaics in Poland
Analyzes by Forum Energii show that the rate of replacing emission-intensive heat sources with heat pumps should be approximately 260,000 units per year. Last year this development was less than half that.
In order to restore the confidence of building owners in the state and the EU climate policy and to emphasize the sense of investing in modern technologies, the government should implement a comprehensive package for citizens and business investors that will help them go through the energy transformation, emphasizing not only the environmental but also economic benefits – they emphasize experts of the Energy Forum.
In the report entitled “Buildings in a gas trap. Why is the development of micro-installations and heat pumps in Poland slowing down? Forum Energii experts recommend introducing:
- a fixed or minimum repurchase rate for energy from photovoltaic micro-installations;
- a special tariff, free of CO2 costs, for heating with heat pumps;
a higher limit on frozen electricity prices for heat pump owners; - mechanisms for protecting investors in heat pumps and photovoltaic installations covered by subsidies.
It will also be important to withdraw subsidies for gas installations and, in the future, to support the replacement of gas boilers with zero-emission devices.
The energy transformation will not be possible without the involvement of citizens. Therefore, the government must take a comprehensive look at the barriers and ensure consistent legislation. The development of home photovoltaics, heat pumps, but also electric cars must be anchored in the state’s climate and energy strategies – emphasize Forum Energii experts. – Support systems encouraging investments in low-emission technologies should be transparent, supported by a predictable settlement system – so as to give investors a sense of security and an advantage over choosing energy from coal, gas or biomass.
