The end of the water for a song. The government wants to introduce new fees for businesses, the pocket will get every Pole – Dziennik.pl

We reached developed in the Ministry of Environment of the bill – Water Law, which is the response of the government to the requirements of the Water Framework Directive of the EU. With over 300 pages of the document implies a revolutionary change. Provides, inter alia establishment of the State Farm Water “Water Polish” with extensive expertise and a huge budget.

Article 282 of the Act contains a proposed maximum rates of charges for water consumption. In some cases, they are higher than today. They will also be introduced new fees. The law will abolish exemption for the use of water for power plants and power plants. The fee will be charged both for the use of water for cooling systems, as well as the discharge of waste water from these systems. This will increase the operating costs of enterprises, and therefore an increase in electricity prices paid by consumers, including households – explains Grzegorz Kubalski from the Association of Polish Counties.

Charges to be for example 2 10 zł per 1 cubic meters. irreversibly collected groundwater and surface 1,05 zł. Previously, power plants benefited from full exemptions. In the case of water used for agricultural purposes, the charges must be respectively: 1.64 zł per 1 cubic meters. and 0.82 zł per 1 cubic meters. Here, too, of the exemption. The Ministry of Environment calms. The new water law will not be affected households, in this case, nothing changes. Fees will include entities that use water permits, which take more than 5 cubic meters. of water per day says spokesman Jacek Krzeminski.

The annual revenues of the public sector with the amended charges the government estimates at 4.7 billion zł. The money will go to the PGW “Water Polish”. And they will be distributed by this institution. And on what to spend – neglected for many years inland waterways require an investment of 14 billion zł. For flood protection, Poland should put an additional 24 billion zł in the next 10-12 years.

According to the so-called. the impact assessment accompanying the bill, conventional energy new fees will cost a total of over half a billion dollars per year. According to the authors of the document at an average price of 1 MWh (in 2015. 169,99 zł) share of new water charges will amount to approx. 0.7 percent. This suggests that the cost of changes will not significantly affect the market and the competitiveness of the economy. For the sector of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (eg. Fish farmers, farmers, hydropower), the annual cost of the fees will amount to 386 million zł. Here, too, the authors of the project argue that the proposed regulation will not affect the functioning of these sectors. In addition, as the government calculates the load of household because of the indirect effects of changes in the law should not exceed 29,50 zł per inhabitant per year.

This is not the first attempt to implement the new water law. The previous government had a finished project, so that they do not want to push it during the election campaign, fearing the political consequences of the introduction of new fees. At that time it was estimated that power will have to incur additional costs in the amount not half a billion, but only 70 million zł. – Do not we introduced draconian rates, as they inevitably will be transferred to the citizens – says former Deputy Environment Minister Stanislaw Gawłowski with PO