On March 4, 2011 the Sejm adopted the Act on Power Efficiency. The new provisions are to improve power efficiency and promote the technologies which mitigate the effects of the energy industry on the environment. Power producers, distributors and users will be obliged to increase the power efficiency by 9 per cent in total by 2016. The act introduces i.a. the obligation to obtain power efficiency certificates, i.e. “white certificates”. “White certificates” will be issued by the President of the Energy Regulatory Office [UrzÄ…d Regulacji Energetyki] for those projects which lead to reduction of power consumption. The obligation of power efficiency will be binding not only for the public sector even though the relevant European law provisions specify that it is public administration who should serve as example when it comes to reaching the required level of power saving.

The act is still to be examined by the Senate.

Contact person: Paweł Nowak, pn@pnplaw.pl