One year into her term, Renata Mroczek, president of Poland’s Energy Regulatory Office (URE), has issued a blunt warning: the body that controls the electricity, gas and heat markets is hitting the wall. Chronic underfunding and a steadily growing list of duties have left the regulator unable to hold onto staff, and Mroczek says the consequences are obvious.
Mroczek was appointed on 11 August 2025, becoming the first woman to lead URE. Before that she spent almost a decade in the institution, heading its largest regional branch in Łódź and then serving as deputy president. Her main goals when taking office were to improve the regulator’s operations, end silo thinking, open a real dialogue with the market and push digitisation forward.
One of her first moves was to create the Cross-Sector Accelerator for the Development of Polish Energy, an unusual platform gathering government officials, network operators, district heating, gas and liquid fuel companies, electricity producers, renewable energy and storage firms, local governments and energy-intensive consumers. According to Mroczek, the accelerator has already helped produce the so-called network act and several solutions included in draft amendments to existing legislation. URE has also begun cooperation with Polish Waters and signed a formal agreement with the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways.
A staffing crunch at the regulator
Digitisation remains one of the office’s biggest weaknesses. The regulator was underfinanced in this area for years, and although this year’s budget and funds from the National Recovery Plan have allowed some work to start, full digital reporting is still far away. Mroczek said development plans and licensing may soon be handled in a partly digital formula.
– Digitisation of operations is still URE’s Achilles heel – said Renata Mroczek.
Staffing is an equally serious problem. URE’s salary levels placed it 37th among 52 central offices and ministries in Poland last year. New statutes keep adding tasks to the watchdog without adding corresponding jobs.
– URE is increasingly treated as a 'training ground’ – a place to gain experience and knowledge, followed by a jump to a better-paid job in other central offices or in business – said Renata Mroczek.
Because URE has no legislative initiative, Mroczek asked the energy minister to propose changes to the Energy Law, including tightening the liquid fuels market to shrink the grey zone and deregulating concessions for gas bottle sales.
– If URE is not financed adequately to the number of tasks entrusted to it and their importance for security – both energy security and state security – we will not be able to retain employees and fill vacancies. I think the consequences of this situation are obvious to everyone – said Renata Mroczek.
Market reports, amnesty and the RES auction calendar
Mroczek confirmed that limiting her first annual report, covering 2025, to the office’s activities was a deliberate decision. She expected the removal of the market section to make the report much shorter, but it stayed almost as long, which she said proves how much URE’s remit has grown. Heat and gas market reports have already been published; liquid fuels and electricity are next. A national report prepared for the European Commission and ACER is also available on URE’s website.
The work on those reports showed that URE lacks analytical capacity and modern IT tools. Building that base is one of Mroczek’s priorities for the coming years, but she links it directly to adequate financing of the office.
The regulator is still dealing with public finance units that failed to reduce electricity consumption in December 2022 and in 2023. The amnesty Mroczek advocated for has not happened.
– I still count on the amnesty that we are advocating for. The purpose of the law, in our assessment, has been achieved – said Renata Mroczek.
– Relatively easy cases, where we had clarity about who was responsible for what, have already been completed. Now we should start looking into the more difficult cases – said Renata Mroczek.
At the same time, a draft law implementing the RED III directive would require URE to settle final energy consumption in public finance units, covering electricity, heat, gas and liquid fuels.
– We are not able to carry out such a task ourselves, even to a small extent – said Renata Mroczek.
– It is not art to create law, but art is to create good law, that is, provisions that are feasible and build trust in the state – said Renata Mroczek.
On renewable auctions, URE expects this year’s rounds to take place in the fourth quarter. The non-price criteria required by the Net Zero Industry Act have not yet been written into Polish law, so this year’s auctions are likely to be settled only on price. Mroczek said the climate ministry has been warned well in advance that the new criteria would require major changes to the auction platform and enough time to prepare. Any decision on their timing rests with the ministry.
Mroczek’s assessment comes ahead of Energy Days, scheduled for 30 September – 1 October at the International Congress Centre in Katowice, where Polish energy topics will be debated.
Źródło: WNP.PL, Fot. URE / PTWP
