Nowe uregulowanie sprzedaży rezerwowej energii elektrycznej
New regulation of reserve sales of electricity

Summary/Abstract: The energy sector in Poland has undergone many revolutionary changes in recent years. One of the most important is the liberalization of the electricity market. The possibility to change the electricity supplier exists since 1 July 2007, abolishing the pre-existing regionalization that had resulted in the assignment of end users to top-down electricity sellers. The possibility to change the electricity seller to entities with a weaker market position was inseparably connected with the risk of them ceasing to provide services to end-users. Until 2016, this was only a vague vision expressed by market pessimists. However, this problem has now become very real, especially for over 130,000 households which are currently facing this problem. In such situation, end-users still have access to electricity, but in this case, as part of a ‘reserve sale’. The purpose of the article is to analyze the current and pre-existing legal state in the field of reserve sale of electricity, and thus to indicate what a ‘reserve sale’ actually is and what are the risks related to it for end-users. In addition, the article presents to which extent the amendment of the Polish Energy Law Act, adopted in November 2018, and which includes the comprehensive regulation of reserve sale of electricity, will strengthen the protection of electricity end-users.

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