Electricity is essential for functioning both at home and in industry. In industry, energy costs affect the final price of the manufactured product. They translate into the competitiveness of enterprises, especially those with energy-intensive production.

In households, the costs of energy supplied are regulated by the President of the Energy Regulatory Office. In industry, there is a free market and electricity prices shaped by power plants and trading companies.

In the process of energy transformation, as well as a result of the geopolitical situation, in recent years, the costs of energy supplied to industry have increased tenfold. The cost of energy supply includes fees for distribution services and electricity. The costs of Distribution Services result from the tariff of the Distribution System Operator or the Transmission System Operator. Tariff rates result from justified costs incurred by operators and are approved by the President of the Energy Regulatory Office.

We are in a situation on the market where distribution rates have increased by approx. 5% compared to the previous year, and the effect of this change, based on Energa Operator SA's tariff, in 2021 and 2022, in tariff groups B23 is presented in Table 1.

Table no. 1. Costs of energy supply, based on the Energa Operator SA tariff, in 2021 and 2022, in tariff groups B23.

However, the distribution rates do not end there. It should be emphasized that energy purchase costs increased by almost 500% compared to the previous year. This fact calls into question the competitiveness of our enterprises, not only on the domestic market, but also in international trade. This also limits the purchasing power of Polish customers. The costs of energy purchase, based on the standard price list of Energa Obrót SA in 2021 and 2022, in tariff groups A23 and B23, are presented in Table 2.

Table no. 2. Prices of electricity, based on the standard price list of Energa Obrót SA in 2021 and 2022, in tariff group B23.

Where: increase=price in 2022-price in 2021price in 2021*100%

This is mainly due to the increase in energy prices in the energy markets. Figure 1 shows weighted average prices for 24 hours in June, July and August 2022. You can see a clear increase in prices every hour.

Prices on TGE-RND Monthly weighted average for 24 hours a day

Figure no. 1. Energy prices on TGE – DAM, monthly weighted average for 24 hours of a day

In connection with such galloping prices, it is worth at least partially becoming independent from energy companies, and in particular from energy sellers. Energy storage and appropriate energy management systems may be one of the ways to achieve energy independence. Professional industrial energy storage systems, such as the Energate storage facilities of the Polish manufacturer - Elmech-ASE, have such solutions.

Properly selected energy storage will allow you to reduce the costs of supplied energy by:

Purchase of energy during the hours with the lowest prices and use it during the peak hours - the most expensive. The price difference for 1 MWh in peak and off-peak hours is very high. Between the morning peak and off-peak hours it is 566 zl, and in relation to the afternoon peak it is as much as 1,468 zl. It is therefore worth buying energy during off-peak hours and use it during peak hours.

Reduction of electricity distribution costs.

Limitation of fees resulting from the network rate. By purchasing energy during periods of our reduced demand and storing it, we can use it during our peak load hours.

We can reduce the demand for power drawn from the power grid and thus the power ordered for each month of the year, for which the fee in the B23 tariff is 16.02 zl for each kW

Reduction of charges resulting from the capacity rate. We pay the capacity fee for each kWh consumed, but only between 7.00 a.m. and 9.59 p.m. on working days from Monday to Friday. When buying energy from 22.00 to 7.00 and storing it for use during peak hours, not only do we not pay the capacity fee on this amount, but we can also change the energy purchase profile and reduce the cost of this fee for all energy from 7 to 22 from the 102 rate, 6zl /MWh to about 17 zl.

“Based on the standard price list of Energa Obrót SA and the tariff of Energa Operator SA, an analysis of the costs of energy supply to a company with a contractual capacity of 500 kW without an energy storage facility and with an energy storage facility with a capacity of 250 kW and a capacity of 1000 kWh was carried out. The analysis showed savings in energy supply costs at the level of 650,000 zloty in a company working in two shifts and 740 thousand. zloty in a company that works three shifts a year. The investment should pay for itself in 7 years or less, depending on the price of the warehouse and skyrocketing energy costs. It should also be taken into account that energy prices from the summer period were adopted for the analysis. What will they be like in winter? It should be estimated not lower. There will be less energy from PV installations but more from wind farms, so there will be more energy at night, i.e. when prices are low, and purchasing energy at night can be even more profitable,” enumerates Mieczysław Wrocławski, Vice President of the Management Board of PSME, member of the Coordination Council for Development of the Photovoltaic Sector.

“In a situation of dynamically growing energy costs, the only reasonable solution and protection against instability and unpredictability is the use of energy storage supported by renewable sources such as photovoltaic installations. Energy storage can make full use of their production capacity and mitigate the effects of rising prices. In addition, energy storages stabilize the parameters and improve the quality of electricity.” – adds Arkadiusz Marat, President of the Management Board of Elmech-ASE.