Polish residents told how they can’t buy coal for the winter for a month

BOGDANKA (Poland), September 2 – PRIME. Residents of Poland are waiting for the opportunity to buy coal for the winter for a month. After the authorities of the republic banned state and private companies from buying this raw material in Russia, there is a serious shortage of it in Poland.

PROHIBITION AND ADDITIONAL COSTS

In April, Poland completely banned the import of coal from Russia, which had a dramatic impact on the availability of coal on the market and on its price. The cost of a ton of coal from private suppliers reaches three thousand zlotys (about $640). The Ministry of Climate and Environment of Poland in the current situation in early July canceled for 60 days the requirements for the quality of coal used for heating.

To avoid social tension, the Polish government decided to compensate coal consumers for its rise in price. Initially, coal sellers were offered to sell it to the population at last year’s price, promising to compensate for the difference between the cost and the sale price. However, this proposal did not meet with the understanding of representatives of the coal business, who want not only to “work to zero”, but also to make a profit, and practically no one took advantage of this opportunity. Coal continued to be sold at a high price, realizing that consumers would buy it anyway, and in conditions of shortage, there was no need to take care of the timely emptying of warehouses.

Then the Polish government decided to pay 3,000 zlotys (about $650) to households using coal as fuel. Later, it was decided to compensate for the increase in the cost of heating to other individual households using pellets, firewood, fuel oil, liquefied gas as fuel.

BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

In the building of the canteen of the Bogdanka mine, not far from Lublin, there is a registration point for those wishing to purchase coal. Thus, the seller decided to get rid of the queues for coal fuel. Now, in order to buy coal, you need to submit an appropriate application, attaching a certificate stating that the buyer’s house is heated by a stove that runs on this particular fuel.

On Friday, despite the working day, there are about forty people in line. “I arrived early in the morning. I hope to be able to apply by evening,” says Leszek, a resident of the neighboring village. He wants to buy coal to heat his house and greenhouse.

According to the interlocutor of the agency, recently, within the framework of the state program, the stove in his house was modernized, but he did not expect such an incident to happen with coal. “They actually made a new stove for me. They said that it was economical, safe, modern. But no one said that there would be nothing to heat it with. Maybe it was necessary to install a gas boiler. winter,” the source said.

LOOKING WAITING

Submitting an application for the purchase of coal does not mean at all that it will be possible to buy it immediately. When submitting an application, buyers are not told the date of the immediate purchase, but are told to wait for the message.

“They only accept documents here. After that, you have to go home and wait for a text message or a phone call, and then come with a truck for your coal. No one can immediately say the date of purchase. But my neighbor has been waiting a month. Now they say here that perhaps “I will be able to buy coal in October. But who knows, maybe in November. I hope that I will be able to buy coal while it is still warm. Otherwise, I don’t know what I will do. I have no fuel reserves,” says Leszek. “In general, we now joke that you will receive coal for the winter in the spring,” he continued.

PRICE AND LIMIT

Applicants can expect to buy up to three tons of coal per household. “In principle, this should be enough to heat one house. But it all depends on what kind of house, what is its area, how heating is organized. And if there is more than one stove in the house? And if a person is engaged in business, for example, bakes bread for sale? And if he has greenhouses that also need to be heated, ”says one of the participants in the queue.

At the same time, according to him, the price of coal this year has increased by more than one and a half times. “Now coal is sold here at 1,600 zlotys (about $340 at the current exchange rate) per ton, and last year it was cheaper than one thousand,” the source said.

QUALITY IN QUESTION

The quality of coal, or rather, its calorie content also raises questions among consumers of this fuel. Leszek’s next-door neighbor Karol used to work at the Bogdanka mine himself and considers himself an expert on the coal industry and the state of affairs at the mine. He says that the shortage of coal, in addition to the ban on imports from Russia, was also affected by the technical problems of Bogdanka. “Anthracite has not been mined for a month,” he said. When asked why the extraction of the most high-calorie coal was stopped, he says that “the mountain decided so”, hinting at technical problems.

“So the question arises, what kind of coal will be sold to us. How much heat will it give and, accordingly, how much will it be needed for the winter,” Karol asks. “But we pay money like for high-quality coal,” he adds.

ATTITUDE TO SANCTIONS

The people standing in line are not against anti-Russian sanctions in principle, but in a particular case they consider them harmful to themselves.

“Listen, I understand everything. Russia, Ukraine, enemies, friends, sanctions… But sanctions are imposed in order to punish someone who makes the lives of others worse, with the aim that he stops doing bad things and the lives of those around him get better in order to live “better, but in our particular case – cheaper. Well, what do we see? Sanctions have been imposed against Russia, and the Poles are hustling in this queue to buy coal no one knows when and no one knows how much,” says Leszek. He believes that the government of his country did not take into account the consequences of the ban on Russian coal imports. “What have they achieved? I don’t know how poor Russia has become there. It seems that they are not going to leave Ukraine yet, but because of these political decisions, it may happen that we will sleep in jackets and not pajamas in winter,” – says the source of the agency.

SMART BUSINESS

Some of the smartest people in Poland are trying to take advantage of the current situation, several times receiving compensation due from the state in three thousand zlotys.

As one of the residents of a neighboring village told a RIA Novosti correspondent on condition of anonymity, some citizens found a loophole in the government’s decision. “My neighbors, for example, figured out that any household heated by coal could receive 3,000 zlotys. They are not married, they have been living in a civil marriage for several years. but legally they have two separate households,” she said.

According to the interlocutor of the agency, her neighbors have already submitted two separate applications for compensation and are waiting to see what happens.