How will electricity prices for households be included in the Consumer Price Index from January 2023?

Due to the entry into force of the act on special solutions for the protection of electricity consumers in 2023 and the implementation of the measures under the so-called Solidarity Shield, from 1 January 2023, energy prices will be frozen at the 2022 level for households whose electricity consumption does not exceed the assumed limits or if the household is entitled to use the increased limits.

The consumer price index measures price changes for all goods and services for which households incur consumer expenditure. Based on information on the expenditure of the average household in 2021, expenditure on electricity is 4.5%. Within this category, charges (tariffs) for energy as well as for the supply of energy are observed. Data on prices and tariffs are obtained from the websites of companies distributing electricity to households.

Following the introduction of new rules on energy price regulation from January 2023, Eurostat guidelines will be adapted to the electricity price surveys observed for the survey of retail price changes. Eurostat guidelines are available at the link: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/272892/11336726/Treatment-energy-prices-compensation-measures-HICP.pdf/.

The detailed rules for taking into account individual shielding solutions for households are worked out on a case-by-case basis. For energy prices, the adopted solution provides for the inclusion of charge rates from January 2023, taking into account the set limits on the basis of an analysis of the structure of household energy consumption in previous years.

Solutions in the nature of a subsidy or monetary allowance, which increase household income but are not directly linked to the price, will not be included in the price survey.

At the same time, we would like to inform that due to the introduced solutions related to the price dependence on the consumption limit and the introduced conditions entitling to maintain prices at the 2022 level, additional detailed analyses of energy consumption and billing rules for households using individual tariffs are being carried out in cooperation with institutions monitoring this market segment.