Electricity price in Poland today
The spot price of electricity hour by hour in PL (PL), Friday, 23 October 2026.
Poland still burns more coal for electricity than any other EU country, and that shapes its price more than anything else. Every megawatt-hour from a lignite or hard-coal plant needs EU carbon allowances, so the cost of CO2 feeds straight into the Polish day-ahead price, which is set for the whole country as a single bidding zone.
The picture is shifting quickly, though. Wind farms and, above all, rooftop solar on family houses have grown fast, so on sunny or windy hours the price can drop well below the evening level, when the coal fleet sets it again.
For households there is a second layer: tariffs approved by the energy regulator and, since the energy crisis, a series of laws that froze what families pay for the energy itself.
Today electricity costs 0.72 zł/kWh in PL (PL) on average.
LiveSource: Bundesnetzagentur | SMARD.deRate: ECB 22/10/2026
Hour by hour
The three cheapest hours in a row are 12–15 (average 0.45 zł/kWh). The dearest hour is 17–18.
Show every hour as a table
| Hour | Spot price (zł/kWh) | Level |
|---|---|---|
| 00–01 | 0.75 | Middle |
| 01–02 | 0.72 | Middle |
| 02–03 | 0.69 | Middle |
| 03–04 | 0.72 | Middle |
| 04–05 | 0.73 | Middle |
| 05–06 | 0.75 | Dear |
| 06–07 | 0.94 | Dear |
| 07–08 | 1.11 | Dear |
| 08–09 | 0.98 | Dear |
| 09–10 | 0.56 | Cheap |
| 10–11 | 0.51 | Cheap |
| 11–12 | 0.51 | Cheap |
| 12–13 | 0.49 | Cheap |
| 13–14 | 0.41 | Cheap |
| 14–15 | 0.46 | Cheap |
| 15–16 | 0.55 | Cheap |
| 16–17 | 0.81 | Dear |
| 17–18 | 1.17 | Dear |
| 18–19 | 1.14 | Dear |
| 19–20 | 0.95 | Dear |
| 20–21 | 0.69 | Middle |
| 21–22 | 0.59 | Middle |
| 22–23 | 0.57 | Cheap |
| 23–00 | 0.52 | Cheap |
The spot price is the exchange price, the average of the hour's four quarter-hour prices, before taxes, network tariffs and VAT. Converted at the ECB reference rate of 22/10/2026: 1 EUR = 4.3695 PLN. The ECB's rates are free to use.
Where does the electricity in Poland come from?
Gross electricity generation in 2024 by energy source. Source: Eurostat (nrg_bal_peh).
Household price since 2023
Average price per kWh, all-in, for a household using 2,500–5,000 kWh a year. Source: Eurostat (nrg_pc_204).
A household in Poland using 2,500–5,000 kWh a year paid 1.27 zł/kWh on average, all-in, in H1 2026, 18% more than a year before (Eurostat).
Eurostat's figure for each half-year, with taxes, levies, network costs and VAT. Updated twice a year.
How the electricity price works in Poland
One zone, an exchange and a regulator that still approves tariffs
Wholesale power is traded on the Polish Power Exchange (TGE), which is coupled with the rest of Europe, so the day-ahead price for Poland comes out of the same calculation as Germany's or Sweden's. The transmission grid is run by the state-owned PSE, and the regional networks by distribution companies such as Tauron, Enea, Energa and PGE.
Unlike most of the EU, Poland has kept regulated household prices: the energy regulator URE approves the tariffs that the large default suppliers charge households. After 2022, Parliament went further and froze the household energy price by law, with suppliers compensated by the state for the gap to their costs. These freezes were extended several times, so the price a family paid has had little to do with the hourly market.
Distribution fees, capacity charge and excise
A Polish electricity bill has two halves: the energy itself and distribution. The distribution half has a fixed monthly part and a part per kWh, and it carries several small levies that pay for national goals: a capacity fee (opłata mocowa) that keeps power plants available for peak demand, an RES fee for renewables, a cogeneration fee and a quality fee for system services.
Excise duty on electricity is built into the price, and VAT is added on top of everything. Households choose a tariff group when they sign up; the most common are G11, with one price around the clock, and G12, which is cheaper at night and in the early afternoon.
Carbon, coal and an ever sunnier midday
Because coal plants are so often the marginal supplier, the EU carbon price matters more in Poland than almost anywhere else. When allowances get dearer, the Polish price rises with them. Domestic coal is mined in Silesia and lignite comes from open pits next to the plants, which cushions the fuel cost but not the CO2 cost.
Weather has become the other big driver. A calm, grey winter evening pushes the price up; a breezy spring day or a bright summer noon pulls it down, sometimes sharply, because so much solar now feeds into low-voltage networks. Cold spells also raise demand from heating and from industry, which is large in Poland.
From Bełchatów to the Baltic
The backbone of Polish generation is still thermal: the lignite plant at Bełchatów in central Poland is the largest coal-fired station in Europe, and many hard-coal units stand in Silesia. Gas has grown as a cleaner substitute and as a backup for wind.
Onshore wind expanded until a strict distance rule slowed it in 2016; that rule was eased in 2023. Solar has boomed, driven by hundreds of thousands of household installations. Offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea are under construction, and the first nuclear power plant is planned on the Pomeranian coast. Poland has no reactor in operation today.
Poland and its neighbours
Across the western border, Germany has far more wind and solar and often a lower day-ahead price, especially on windy days. Czechia and Slovakia to the south lean on nuclear power, which keeps their marginal costs less exposed to carbon. To the north, the SwePol cable links Poland with Sweden, whose hydro and nuclear make its southern zone usually cheaper, and the LitPol link connects with Lithuania.
These connections are modest compared with the size of Polish demand, so the price can still drift far from its neighbours' when Polish coal plants set it.
Poland compared with its neighbours
In 2024, coal, lignite and peat made 55%, wind made 15% and gas made 12% of the electricity generated in Poland. Wind, solar, hydro, nuclear and bioenergy together made 30% of generation in Poland.
Gross electricity generation in 2024 by energy source. Source: Eurostat (nrg_bal_peh). Pumped hydro is left out.
Voltly does not cover Poland yet
Voltly shows hourly prices in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Netherlands and Belgium.
Voltly is for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Questions about the electricity price in Poland
- What does electricity cost in Poland today?
- In PL (PL) the spot price averages 0.72 zł/kWh today. It is cheapest at 13–14 with 0.41 zł/kWh and dearest at 17–18 with 1.17 zł/kWh. Network tariffs, taxes and VAT come on top.
- What does an ordinary household in Poland pay for electricity?
- A household in Poland using 2,500–5,000 kWh a year paid 1.27 zł/kWh per kWh on average, all-in, in H1 2026, according to Eurostat (about 30.0 c/kWh at today's rate). The price varies with the network company and the contract.
- How much of the electricity in Poland comes from coal, lignite and peat?
- 55% of the electricity generated in Poland came from coal, lignite and peat in 2024 (Eurostat), the largest single source.
- Why does the CO2 price affect Polish electricity so strongly?
- Coal is still the largest source of Polish power, and coal plants emit roughly twice as much CO2 per kWh as gas plants. Each tonne emitted needs an EU allowance, so a higher carbon price raises the cost of the plants that most often set the Polish price.
- Does Poland have nuclear power?
- Not yet. No nuclear reactor operates in Poland. The government's plan is a first plant on the Baltic coast in Pomerania, with further units to follow later. Until then, coal, gas, wind and solar supply almost all of the country's electricity, with imports filling gaps.
- What do the tariff codes G11 and G12 mean?
- They are household tariff groups. G11 charges the same price for every hour of the day. G12 splits the day into two zones, with cheaper energy and distribution at night and for a couple of hours in the afternoon; it suits homes with electric heating or a car charged overnight.