Polish President Karol Nawrocki signed legislation January 9th designed to streamline a new heating allowance program – “bon ciepłowniczy” – intended to help vulnerable households offset rising energy costs. While the law establishes financial support for those facing energy poverty, it also introduces a provision allowing local authorities to reject applications without review under certain circumstances. The changes, stemming from a December 18th parliamentary act, impact both the current and upcoming benefit cycles, and have already prompted questions about accessibility for residents not connected to district heating networks.
On January 9, 2026, the President signed into law legislation passed on December 18, 2025, amending existing regulations to streamline support mechanisms for electricity and heating consumers. The new law introduces provisions for a benefit designed to assist households at risk of energy poverty with their heating bills. Local authorities – including mayors and city councils – will have the discretion to reject applications for the heating allowance (bon ciepłowniczy) without review, effectively denying the benefit, under specific circumstances outlined in the amended legislation. This applies to both applications for the 2026 benefit and those for 2025, for which the application deadline was December 15th.
- New 500 plus (and 1000 plus in 2026) for heating, or the heating allowance – who is eligible for the benefit intended to help cover heating costs?
- New 500 plus (and 1000 plus in 2026) for heating, or the heating allowance – how much of a benefit can you receive to help cover heating costs?
- New 500 plus (and 1000 plus in 2026) for heating, or the heating allowance – how and when can you apply to your municipality for the benefit intended to help cover heating costs?
- New 500 plus (and 1000 plus in 2026) for heating, or the heating allowance – why is the benefit intended to help cover heating costs not available in many municipalities in Poland?
- Applications for the heating allowance payment may be left unanswered despite being submitted on time – the President signed a law amending the regulations regarding the benefit for 2025 and 2026.
- The law signed by the President is also a nod to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which will be able to avoid the risk of having to repay the support they received in connection with the application of the maximum price of electricity.
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New 500 plus (and 1000 plus in 2026) for heating, or the heating allowance – who is eligible for the benefit intended to help cover heating costs?
Table of Contents
- New 500 plus (and 1000 plus in 2026) for heating, or the heating allowance – who is eligible for the benefit intended to help cover heating costs?
- New 500 plus (and 1000 plus in 2026) for heating, or the heating allowance – how much of a benefit can you receive to help cover heating costs?
- New 500 plus (and 1000 plus in 2026) for heating, or the heating allowance – how and when can you apply to your municipality for the benefit intended to help cover heating costs?
- New 500 plus (and 1000 plus in 2026) for heating, or the heating allowance – why is the benefit intended to help cover heating costs not available in many municipalities in Poland?
- Applications for the heating allowance payment may be left unanswered despite being submitted on time – the President signed a law amending the regulations regarding the benefit for 2025 and 2026
- The law signed by the President is also a nod to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which will be able to avoid the risk of having to repay the support they received in connection with the application of the maximum price of electricity.
The heating allowance, established under the Act of September 12, 2025, concerning the heating allowance and amendments to certain acts aimed at limiting electricity prices, provides support for heating costs to households facing energy poverty. According to information released by the President’s Office on September 29th, the benefit is intended to offset costs for heat recipients from non-licensed and licensed energy companies involved in the production and distribution of heat, stemming from rising heating expenses.
Eligibility for the benefit is dependent on meeting specific income criteria:
- Single individuals are eligible if their net monthly income does not exceed 3,272.69 PLN,
- For multi-person households, the limit is 2,454.52 PLN net per person.
Income for 2024 will be considered when evaluating applications for the 2025 allowance, and income for 2025 will be used for applications for the 2026 allowance.
To qualify for the heating allowance, applicants must also be using system heat and incurring heating costs exceeding 170 PLN/GJ net.
System heat, as defined by the Act, refers to district heating networks and associated equipment or installations used for the production or reception of heat or cooling, as well as local heat sources directly supplying external receiving installations operated by an energy company engaged in the production, transmission, distribution, or trading of heat.
According to the justification for the Act introducing the heating allowance, the benefit is targeted towards the most vulnerable households, who are most affected by rising heating bills. Given the expiration of the electricity price freeze mechanism at the end of 2025, “a return to market prices [regarding electricity bills] with the start of 2026 could significantly burden low-income households. Consequently, it is appropriate to introduce new regulations implementing a protective mechanism in the form of a heating allowance (…). Many of the solutions contained in the proposed Act are modeled on proven solutions contained in the Act of May 23, 2024, on the energy allowance and amending certain acts to limit the prices of electricity, gas, and system heat.” explained the Ministry of Energy.
New 500 plus (and 1000 plus in 2026) for heating, or the heating allowance – how much of a benefit can you receive to help cover heating costs?
The amount of the heating allowance is dependent on heat prices. For the second half of 2025, it is a one-time payment of:
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- 500 PLN – for heating costs above 170 PLN/GJ net and not exceeding 200 PLN/GJ net,
- 1,000 PLN – for heating costs above 200 PLN/GJ net and not exceeding 230 PLN/GJ net, or
- 1,750 PLN – for heating costs above 230 PLN/GJ net.
In 2026, the one-time payment will be:
- 1,000 PLN – for heating costs above 170 PLN/GJ net and not exceeding 200 PLN/GJ net,
- 2,000 PLN – for heating costs above 200 PLN/GJ net and not exceeding 230 PLN/GJ net, or
- 3,500 PLN – for heating costs above 230 PLN/GJ net.
Given that single-component net prices for system heat in Poland generally range closer to 170 PLN/GJ than 230 PLN/GJ, it is expected that the majority of those eligible for the benefit will receive the 500 PLN allowance in 2025 (and 1,000 PLN in 2026), rather than the 1,750 PLN (or 3,500 PLN in 2026).
Benefit payments will be subject to a “złotówka for złotówka” principle. This means the allowance will be granted even if income exceeds the threshold, but the benefit amount will be reduced accordingly. However, if the calculated allowance amount is less than 20 PLN, the benefit will not be granted.
New 500 plus (and 1000 plus in 2026) for heating, or the heating allowance – how and when can you apply to your municipality for the benefit intended to help cover heating costs?
Applications for the heating allowance payment must be submitted to the voivode, mayor, or city council, based on the applicant’s place of residence. Applications for:
- The period from July 1st to December 31st, 2025, were accepted from November 3rd to December 15th, 2025, and
- The period from January 1st to December 31st, 2026, will be accepted from July 1st to August 31st, 2026.
If an application is not submitted within the specified deadlines, the benefit will be forfeited.
In the case of a multi-person household, if more than one person submits an application, the benefit will be paid to the first person to submit an application for that household. Remaining applications will be disregarded. Furthermore, for the purposes of submitting applications, the Act stipulates that one person can be a member of only one household, and if two or more households are located at the same address and receive a single, joint bill for heat, only one heating allowance is granted. The number of people in a household and the number of households at the same address will be determined by the municipal (or city) office on the date of the application for the heating allowance.
New 500 plus (and 1000 plus in 2026) for heating, or the heating allowance – why is the benefit intended to help cover heating costs not available in many municipalities in Poland?
The Act introducing the new heating allowance benefit came into effect on September 30, 2025, and applications for payment for the period from July 1st to December 31st, 2025, could be submitted to voivodes, mayors, and city councils until December 15th. As expected, municipalities across Poland experienced a surge in applications, as individuals hoped to offset heating costs. However, many municipalities – such as Rokietnica, in the Wielkopolska province – tempered expectations, stating that “Residents of the Municipality [in this case, Rokietnica, but this applies to many municipalities in Poland] do not need to submit applications for the heating allowance, as the benefit will not be available.” What’s the catch?
The issue lies in one of the key criteria for eligibility for the allowance, namely the use of system heat.
What is system heat?
System heat is heat produced in heat and combined heat and power plants and transmitted to buildings via district heating networks to provide heating and hot water. It is a way to heat buildings that does not require individual boilers or furnaces.
Therefore:
- If you have a gas, coal, pellet stove, or heat pump in your home, you are not eligible for the heating allowance,
- However, if you have radiators powered by a district heating network, this benefit is intended for you.
As a result, the Rokietnica municipality authorities in the Wielkopolska province informed residents that, due to the absence of district heating or combined heat and power plants in the municipality, and buildings being heated by individual stoves/heat pumps, gas, or other available methods, residents are not eligible for the heating allowance: “Residents of the Rokietnica Municipality do not need to submit applications for the heating allowance, as the benefit will not be available,” read a statement issued on November 5th.
This means that the new heating allowance benefit primarily applies to residents of larger cities who use heat from district heating or combined heat and power plants, and residents of smaller towns using “own” heating sources are unlikely to be eligible for assistance with their heating bills.
Applications for the heating allowance payment may be left unanswered despite being submitted on time – the President signed a law amending the regulations regarding the benefit for 2025 and 2026
In response to the influx of applications to municipalities, despite the existence of specific circumstances outlined in the Act of September 12, 2025, under which the benefit is not available (which generated unnecessary processing costs for municipalities), the government prepared an amendment to the Act. This refers to the Act of December 18, 2025, amending acts to streamline support mechanisms for electricity and heat consumers (Sejm draft No. 2026), which:
- Requires voivodes, mayors, and city councils to publish, by June 20, 2026, on the municipality’s website or through customary means, information stating that in the municipality:
-
- a district heating system does not operate providing heat to households, or
- single-component net heat prices do not exceed 170 PLN/GJ net.
- Grants voivodes, mayors, and city councils the authority to reject applications for the heating allowance if they have been submitted despite the circumstances described in point 1 above.
These regulations apply to applications for the allowance for the period from January 1st to December 31st, 2026, which will be accepted from July 1st to August 31st, 2026. Therefore, if an application for the benefit is submitted in a municipality or city where there is no district heating or net single-component heat prices do not exceed 170 PLN/GJ (as previously announced by the voivode, mayor, or city council), the application will be rejected.
Regarding the benefit for the period from July 1st to December 31st, 2025, for which applications could be submitted until December 15th, 2025 – the voivode, mayor, and city council will be required to publicly announce the information regarding the absence of a district heating system or the net single-component heat price not exceeding 170 PLN/GJ within 7 days of the entry into force of the amendment. If applications for the allowance for the period from July 1st to December 31st, 2025, were therefore submitted despite these circumstances, they will also be rejected.
On January 9, 2026, President Karol Nawrocki signed the Act of December 18, 2025, amending acts to streamline support mechanisms for electricity and heat consumers, introducing these changes to the rules for paying the heating allowance. The new regulations will come into effect next week – on the day following the publication of the Act in the Journal of Laws, which had not yet occurred as of January 9th.
As highlighted in a statement released by the President’s Office, following President Nawrocki’s signing of the Act on January 9th, “The changes introduced in the heating allowance Act provide a mechanism to inform households about the futility of submitting applications for the heating allowance payment and, in the event of such an application being submitted, allow the authority to leave it unanswered. (…) Article 3 of the heating allowance Act will be amended with paragraph 2b, which explicitly states that an application for the heating allowance payment submitted despite the indicated circumstances will be left unanswered.”
The full text of the information regarding the Act of December 18, 2025, amending acts to streamline support mechanisms for electricity and heat consumers, published by the President’s Office, can be found below:
The law signed by the President is also a nod to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which will be able to avoid the risk of having to repay the support they received in connection with the application of the maximum price of electricity.
Beyond the changes to the rules for processing heating allowance applications, the Act of December 18, 2025, signed by the President on January 9th, amending acts to streamline support mechanisms for electricity and heat consumers, also introduces changes to the Act of October 27, 2022, on extraordinary measures to limit electricity prices and support certain recipients in 2023-2025 and the Act of February 21, 2025, amending the capacity market act and certain other acts.
The purpose of the amendment is also to extend the deadline for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises to provide electricity suppliers with information on the value of the support they received in connection with the application of the maximum electricity price in the second half of 2024, under the provisions of the Act of October 27, 2022.
The adopted regulation – according to which this information will be considered submitted in a timely manner if it was submitted after March 18, 2025, but before the entry into force of the amendment (which is likely to occur next week) – will allow businesses to avoid the risk of having to repay the support they received in connection with the application of the maximum price in the second half of 2024.
Legal basis:
- Act of September 12, 2025, on the heating allowance and amending certain acts to limit electricity prices (Journal of Laws of 2025, item 1302)
- Act of December 18, 2025, amending acts to streamline support mechanisms for electricity and heat consumers (Sejm draft No. 2026)
- Act of October 27, 2022, on extraordinary measures to limit electricity prices and support certain recipients in 2023-2025 (consolidated text of the Journal of Laws of 2024, item 1622 as amended)
- Act of February 21, 2025, amending the capacity market act and certain other acts (Journal of Laws of 2025, item 290)
fot. Kancelaria Prezydenta RP/prezydent.pl
