Objective 2

Tariff

Pursuant to Polish Energy Law, the Energy Regulatory Office must approve natural gas prices established by energy companies for end users. In consequence, maintaining a flexible pricing policy is not always possible.

In response to customer expectations, in July 2011 PGNiG introduced a tariff under which the customer can choose the frequency of their gas bills’ settlement. The tariff is applicable to customers in tariff groups 1–3, which primarily comprise households where gas is used for preparing meals, heating water and heating. Prior to the change, each year these customers were assigned to one of the tariff groups on the basis of past consumption or submitted declarations, calculated with reference to the total capacities of installed units and customer’s typical patterns of gas consumption. If any modifications were necessary, PGNiG implemented them and customers were billed in line with the terms of their respective tariffs.

Under the new tariff, customers can choose from three different billing scenarios prepared by the Company for each range of annual consumption. At present, customers can select the frequency of metre readings and, consequently, the frequency with which they receive bills. Another option was created for customers who prefer systematic monthly payments – they can now report gas metre readings by phone or via Internet at any time to their supplier, who will then bill them accordingly.

227,192 customers all over Poland decided to change their tariff, with the largest group registered in the Upper Silesian Gas Trading Division (90,653 customers). All in all, 50,440 customers from the first tariff group (households using gas for cooking) decided to switch. In the second and third tariff groups (households using gas for heating water and households using gas for heating houses/apartments), the figure stood at 104,276 and 72,467 respectively.

The changes introduced have attracted considerable interest from customers, which proves that the Company made the right strategic decisions concerning its development path.