— Changing energy suppliers in Poland is easier today than it might seem, says Kamil Moskwik, an energy market analyst. In fact, the procedure is not complicated and usually requires the recipient to sign only one document.
Since 2007, when this option was introduced, over a million recipients have used it until the end of the third quarter of this year. The motivation is usually savings – market offers can be more competitive than regulated tariffs of the largest sellers belonging to large energy companies.
Read also: Dynamic tariffs come into play. This can affect our electricity bills
The operator must inform you
As Kamil Moskwik points out, the change is actually 'non-invasive' – it does not involve physical interventions, meter replacement or power outages. – Only the company that issues the energy invoice changes. The network operator, i.e. the entity responsible for the meter, failures and the infrastructure itself, remains the same – he emphasizes.
— The whole procedure usually starts with checking the current contract. This mainly concerns its validity period, notice period and possible early termination fees – adds the expert.
Distribution system operators such as PGE Dystrybucja, Tauron Dystrybucja, Enea Operator or Energa-Operatorare obliged to publicly inform about sellers operating in their area – so we can easily find out whose offers are available to us.
Selling through salespeople is out of the question
Moskwik emphasizes that households most often use the so-called comprehensive contracts – covering both sales and distribution. Therefore, the seller also includes this second area on the invoice.
— After signing the contract, the new seller takes over the entire organization of the process. He is the one who terminates the old contract, contacts the network operator and ensures that all formalities are completed in due time – explains the specialist.
The change does not cost anything, apart from possible contractual penalties for premature termination of the previous temporary contract. Customers can also go back to their previous sellers.
The Energy Regulatory Office (URE) points out that before concluding a contract, the seller should present its full content together with a summary that highlights the most important points. For over four years, contracts can only be signed at company headquarters – door-to-door sales are prohibited.
“It's more of a tidiness”
Since the change itself is rather easy, does the process pose any dilemmas? Not necessarily – you still need to make the right decision about choosing a seller.
— In practice, a much greater challenge (than the change itself – editor's note) is to consciously compare offers and understand differences in energy prices, fixed fees and the rules for possible price list changes. – points out Kamil Moskwik. The Energy Regulatory Office warns its recipients about the same. The online comparison website run by the regulator helps in making decisions, i.e. a list of available offers with both fixed and dynamic energy prices.
How much can you gain from a possible change? – For an average apartment, where consumption is relatively low, changing the seller usually means savings of several dozen or several hundred zlotys per year says Moskvik.
As he adds, “for the average user, it will be more about tidying up the contract than a radical improvement in the home budget.” Greater, real savings may be recorded by households with high energy consumption that use devices such as a heat pump, electric car or electric heating.
The most benefits come from tariffs that promote flexibility in electricity consumption. — Differences in costs are also best seen when the home is able to shift some of its consumption to cheaper hours and take advantage of multi-zone tariffs – adds the expert.
Companies will benefit the most
However, companies can mainly count on a real reduction in bills by switching energy suppliers.
— This is primarily due to higher energy consumption. Even a small difference in the price per kilowatt hour can translate into savings amounting to tens, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of zlotys per year. says Moskvik.
He also adds that the retail business energy market is more competitive – prices are more related to what is happening on the wholesale market, so individual sellers can offer different tariffs. In addition, the contract can be tailored to the company's consumption profile.
— These are tools that allow you to have a real impact on energy costs, and more and more companies are using them – sums up the expert.
Most changes in Tauron
Are Poles aware that the energy supplier can be changed? Mostly yes, but the application is worse. According to the study “Bills under consumer control”, carried out this year by the Energy Regulatory Office together with the Smartscope research agency on a representative group of 1,025 respondents, 73 percent had heard of this right. respondents. Only 13 percent of them chose this option.
The latest available data show that at the end of the third quarter of this year in the G tariff group, i.e. households, there were 800 093 recipients who changed the seller. It was by 1.8 percent. more than in December 2024, when the figure was 786 212.
In turn, in tariff groups A, B and C, intended for enterprises, at the end of the third quarter of 2025, there were customers with a changed supplier 270,027; by 5.4 percent more than at the end of 2024, when it was 256 180.
Changes in electricity sellers in the first quarters of 2017-2025
|
ERO / ERO
What was the situation like in the territory of various distribution system operators? Tauron Dystrybucja was the record holder in the third quarter of this year in terms of the number of individual customers who exercised the right to switch suppliers. It was connected to his network 215,577 such households.
PGE Dystrybucja z. took second place 200 284 such energy consumers. For the third time in a row, Energa-Operator decided to make a change 166,673 recipients, and in the Warsaw network of Stoen Operator – 110 305. Enea Operator rounded out the “big five” electricity distributors – it selected another supplier in the third quarter of 2025 107,284 people.
