The price of a liter of gas may be as much as zł.0.20 higher in 2011 thanks to a planned rise in taxes and other fees levied by the government.

According to daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, this will happen irrespective of whether the price of crude oil rises on global markets.

The daily estimates that the planned one percent VAT increase will push up the cost of a liter of gas by about zł.0.04. The elimination of excise relief for biocomponents added to fuels since May will add another zł.0.05-0.07 to the prices of diesel fuel and gas, while a change to the payment system for compulsory reserves next year would add another zł.0.05.

To top it all, new EU rules for certifying biofuels imported from outside the EU will raise prices by a further zł.0.02-zł.0.04 per liter.

Krzysztof Romaniuk from the Polish Organisation of Oil Industry and Trade confirms the estimations. “We definitely agree,” he said. “The hike for the consumer will probably be in the zł.0.15-0.20 range, depending on various factors.”

“The VAT hike and scrapping the excise relief for biocomponents is practically a sure thing,” he explained. “But work on the change to the compulsory reserves payment system are still in progress and we do not know whether the new legislation will enter into force in January 2011.”

Coal may also cost more next year – the daily Parkiet estimates that coal prices might shoot up by around 15 percent in 2011, due to rising global prices. As coal is the primary source of Polish energy, the rise is bound to push up electricity prices.