A miner at the Wuek coal mine in Katowice, Poland. File photoMOSCOW, Sep 19Poland's coal warehouses were empty, and fuel prices soared four times due to the embargo imposed by the authorities on fuel supplies from Russia, according to the Fakt portal. Journalists learned the level of prices in several regions of Poland and came to the conclusion that the country's leadership did not fulfill its promise to keep increase in the price of coal and compensate households for spending on fuel. «Cheap coal — at PLN 996.60 per ton — was planned to be provided at the legislative level. Since August, any household with a coal stove could purchase fuel at this price. Three tons of coal were supposed for each household «But the bill burst like a soap bubble: the government failed to convince warehouses to sell fuel at such a price. Now Poles can apply for subsidies and buy coal with state financial support. The assistance is one-time and amounts to three thousand zlotys,» the authors said. the price of the resource available in the country rose to PLN 4,000 per ton when one a household in Poland on average needs up to five tons of coal per season. However, the problem also lies in the shortage of fuel, which hit Poland after the refusal of Russian supplies.
“We do not have hard coal, which is the most demanded by customers. There are practically no supplies from Polish mines. <…> People are very concerned about what is happening, every day I get a dozen phone calls asking me if we have a product in stock and how much. Now I have "eco-peas" at a price of PLN 3790 and briquettes for PLN 3150. Until recently, the same briquette cost us a little more than 1,800 thousand zlotys per ton, but already the last delivery was a thousand zlotys more,” said Patricia Domanska, an employee of the fuel warehouse in Białogard.
Warehouse employees in Wroclaw reported that they receive coal with a delay of one and a half months and cannot form a queue of customers. In Nowy Sąča, a warehouse worker said that the timing of coal deliveries is unknown. «There are also places where you can buy coal, and different types. But the prices are staggering. In Legnica, the price is approaching four thousand zł per ton. In Nowy Sąča, you need to pay 4400 zlotys! This means that state aid may not even be enough for a ton of fuel,» the journalists complained. Earlier, Poland refused to supply Russian coal. Also, due to non-payment of gas supplies in rubles, Gazprom on April 27 suspended gas exports by the Polish PGNiG. This provoked a sharp rise in energy and electricity prices.
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