Energy Regulatory Office (Poland)
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| Urząd Regulacji Energetyki | |
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | June 23, 1997 |
| Jurisdiction | Government of Poland |
| Headquarters | Warsaw 52°13′58″N 20°58′53″E / 52.23278°N 20.98139°E |
| Employees | 423 |
| Annual budget | 89.8 mln Zloty (2024) |
| Website | ure |
Energy Regulatory Office (Polish: Urząd Regulacji Energetyki) a Polish office serving the President of the Energy Regulatory Office, which is the central government authority operating under the Energy Law of April 10, 1997.[1] It carries out tasks related to promoting competition and regulating the economy, including in the electricity, fuel, and gas markets. The Office's organization is defined by its statute, which is issued by order of the Prime Minister of Poland.
Before the appointment of the President of the Energy Regulatory Office by the Energy Law of April 10, 1997, the central authority for energy management was the Chief Inspector of Energy Economy, whose bodies were local energy management inspectorates. At that time, energy companies were state-owned enterprises. Official prices, i.e., prices set by state administration bodies based on macroeconomic analysis, applied. For the energy sector, tariffs and price lists were established by the Minister of Finance based on the provisions of the Act of February 26, 1982, on Prices. Energy was understood as a common good, not a product.
The regulatory body, the President of the Energy Regulatory Office (URE), was established to implement and regulate the process of liberalizing energy markets to counteract the negative effects of natural monopolies and in the interest of ensuring sustainable energy security, improving the competitiveness of the economy, and protecting the environment from the negative effects of energy processes, in accordance with the government's economic policy priorities.
In the first half of 1998, seven regional offices of the URE were established in Gdańsk, Katowice, Kraków, Łódź, Poznań, Wrocław, and Warsaw, followed by two additional regional offices in Szczecin and Lublin.
The President of the URE issued the first heat generation license on July 31, 1998, for the Lublin-Wrotków Combined Heat and Power Plant in Lublin. The President of the Energy Regulatory Office approved the first electricity tariff on February 15, 1999, for Zielonogórskie Zakłady Energetyczne S.A.
The President of the Energy Regulatory Office granted the first ex officio license in the country on March 12, 1999, at the request of Vattenfall Poland Sp. z o.o.