Poles will pay a huge tax. The aid will cover only 25 percent of households

• The government wants to allocate the maximum allowable 37.5 percent of EU funds to social assistance.
• The aid is to be directed exclusively to older people, those with low incomes and those using fossil fuels.
• Experts warn that the program will cover only 25 percent of eligible farms.

The government announces subsidies for heating bills in connection with ETS2 . Let us add that Poland officially opposes the implementation of the new EU system for calculating fees for emissions from transport and buildings. Nevertheless - as Gazeta Prawna reports - people at risk of energy poverty can expect so-called energy vouchers.

We decided to offer as much direct support as possible to those most affected by the transformation.

- announced Deputy Minister of Funds Jan Szyszko.

Poland has PLN 65 billion at its disposal from the EU Social Climate Fund. The government wants to allocate 37.5 percent of this amount, or about PLN 24 billion, for aid. It is worth emphasizing that this is the maximum amount that can be allocated for social support under EU regulations.

Gazeta Prawna reminds us that the government project provides for three criteria for receiving aid:

• income (up to PLN 2,500 per month in single-person households),
• age (60+ for women, 65+ for men),
• heat source (fossil only, individual or local).

In the opinion of the Institute for Structural Research, " such narrow rules will exclude most people affected by energy poverty , i.e. a situation in which they cannot afford to provide themselves with energy services to a sufficient degree". According to the IBS, only 25% of eligible households will receive aid, instead of over 90%.

This is not a program aimed at the poor, but at a selected group of poor people.

- comments Bartłomiej Orzeł, former government representative for the "Clean Air" program in an interview with Gazeta Prawna. He criticizes, among other things, the exclusion of residents of multi-family buildings from assistance .

According to IBS estimates, in the current form of the program, its implementation will consume only about PLN 3 billion out of the planned PLN 24 billion. Meanwhile - as we read in GP - in order to really limit the growth of energy poverty in Poland, much broader and more comprehensive support would be needed.

Deputy Minister of Family Katarzyna Nowakowska declares that social consultations are ongoing and changes are still possible.

Jarosław Orliński from the Ministry of Funds, which is to finance the support, also indicates that the project may still be modified.

IBS experts point out that even with intensive investments in thermal modernization, energy poverty may increase by 1.5 percentage points. The point is that the poorest may not be able to cope with the price shock that ETS2 will cause.