Spis treści
The return of the exchange obligation for electricity—announced earlier by the Ministry of Industry—has taken the form of a draft amendment to the Energy Law and the Renewable Energy Sources Act (UD284). Besides reinstating the obligation for electricity, it also raises the obligation for gas. And it aims to address another problem that has recently emerged: curtailments of RES installations that have signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with offtakers.
Exchange ping-pong
The idea that a sufficiently high obligation to sell electricity through the exchange could curb rising energy prices first appeared in the summer of 2018. At that time, the PiS government’s Minister of Energy, Krzysztof Tchórzewski, argued that raising the obligation from 30% to 100% as quickly as possible would prevent “unjustified” increases in power prices—referring to the rising TGE forward contract prices for 2019.
The ministry argued then that vertically integrated energy companies traded energy internally within their groups, which contributed to this “unjustified” price increase. Minister Tchórzewski therefore bet on the market. Indeed, the appropriate act was adopted, introducing a 100% obligation, although the effective obligation turned out to be much lower—around 45%. This happened because, acting several months in advance, the ministry gave companies enough time to conclude off-exchange contracts.
However, in 2022, the next PiS government decided that the obligation needed to be abolished—arguing that there might be manipulation on the exchange, and that the exchange mechanism does not necessarily set the lowest price. As a result, the obligation disappeared starting in 2023.
How much electricity is traded on the exchange
According to TGE data, total trading volume on the exchange amounted to 141.4 TWh in 2022. In 2023, when the obligation had already vanished, it increased to 147.5 TWh, only to drop by more than 10% in 2024—to 131.7 TWh.
According to the Energy Regulatory Office (URE), in 2023—after the obligation had disappeared—the largest generators and trading companies contracted more than 70% of their sales and planned purchases among themselves in OTC contracts within their own capital groups. In other words, the very situation that Minister Tchórzewski had tried to eliminate with the introduction of the full obligation four years earlier.
This, as the Ministry of Energy now argues, meant that external customers had limited access to purchases, which in turn restricted competition. The obligation is therefore meant to restore competition, though certain entities will be exempt: high-efficiency CHP units, RES installations up to 10 MW and other sources below 50 MW, as well as autoproducers supplying power through direct lines, etc.
The first attempt to reinstate the obligation was made right after the change of government in December 2023, but the project was eventually withdrawn. More references appeared in June 2025, though it seems companies did not rush into intra-group transactions. Their volume increased only slightly—from 24.82 TWh in Q2 to 26.72 TWh in Q3. The ministry nevertheless estimates that the effective obligation will be around 40–43%.
Higher obligation for gas
The draft also provides for raising the exchange obligation for gas to 85%. It currently stands at 55% and applies to only one entity: the Orlen Group, which last year accounted for 85% of total wholesale gas trading on the exchange. According to URE data, in 2024 around 71% of the natural gas consumed by end users went through TGE.
Raising the obligation is expected to support the development of a “mature, liquid and transparent wholesale gas market,” the ministry argues. It also expects increased liquidity and a greater role for market mechanisms in offers for end customers.
Curtailment rules softened for RES with PPA contracts
The draft also attempts to address another issue: what happens if a RES installation has a PPA contract with a buyer but, due to a curtailment order from the system operator, cannot generate the contracted energy? Under current law, this simply means a breach of contract—despite the fact that the RES producer is not at fault, as it received a direct instruction from the transmission or distribution operator.
According to ministry estimates, around 90% of PPAs are so-called “metered contracts,” where only the energy actually generated is settled.
The draft therefore provides that settlement between the parties will include not only the electricity actually generated, but also the electricity that would have been generated had there been no non-market curtailment order. In other words, both the produced and the “would-have-been-produced” energy will be included. The detailed rules for calculating the volume of non-generated energy will be set out in the transmission (IRiESP) and distribution (IRiESD) grid operation and maintenance instructions.
Who ultimately pays for this? The proposed provision states that the costs arising from the settlement of non-generated energy will be borne by the system operator that issued the non-market curtailment order.
The full version of the draft can be accessed on the website of the Government Legislation Centre.
