The first and also pioneering auction of selling electricity from renewable energy sources (RES) was carried out by the President of the Energy Regulatory Office at the end of December 2016. A number of material errors and problems arose for the auction in connection with the energy producers’ offers. Since January 2017 SSW has been advising an energy producer whose offer to sell energy from RES was incorrectly interpreted by the Internet Auction Platform by way of which the auction was being carried out.
SSW represented the Client in talks with one of the Polish largest public utility companies – Energa-Obrót S.A. At present SSW represents the Client in disputes with the President of the Energy Regulatory Office. SSW’s advisory comprises comprehensive, multi-level discussions and negotiations with the Energy Regulatory Office’s representatives, as well as assistance concerning the pioneering and practically not yet understandable RES Act governing the auction system. SSW’s advisory to the Client, together with remarks and recommendations concerning the currently applicable RES Act wordings, may considerably help to implement the necessary amendments thereto, which may in particular help to avoid auction-related problems in the future.
The case of the Client being advised by SSW was in 2017 the most frequently discussed case in the media as regards RES auctions conducted to-date. Several discussions were held in the case in the Diet (Sejm) Commissions, including the sitting of the Parliamentary Mining and Energy Team held in June 2017. During the sitting, Dominik Strzałkowski, legal counsel, introduced the issues concerning the incorrectly held RES auction and lack of comprehensive regulations governing such auctions, including detailed prerequisites for their cancellation as well as the producers’ right to appeal against the outcome of an auction incorrectly held. In addition to legal counsel Dominik Strzałkowski (SSW Partner), the advisory involved Paweł Michałek, trainee legal counsel.
