The Energy Law published on the 10th April 1997 (t.j. Dz.U. 2003 Nr 153, poz.1504) obliges communal and municipal offices to planning and organizing energy supply in their communes/ municipalities. The law accepts two types of documents:

• projects of assumptions to heat-, electricity- and gaseous fuels supply plans,
• heat-, electricity- and gaseous fuels supply plans.

The documents should remain in consistency with the objectives of the Polish energy policy, local spatial plans and should also fulfill the environmental requirements.
Projects of assumptions to heat supply plans should also remain in consistency with legal acts, such as:

• Law on spatial planning, (27th July 2003)
• Environmental Protection Law (27th April, 2001)
• Construction Law (7 th July 1994) with after changes and others.

The project of assumptions to an energy supply plan is prepared for the whole commune/ municipality or a part of it.

The document should contain the following elements:

• description and evaluation of the present situation and the foreseen changes regarding heat, electricity and gaseous fuels supply,
• forecasts of activities rationalizing utilization of heat, electricity and gaseous fuels supply,
• possibilities of using surplus energy and local energy and fuel sources, taking into consideration combined heat and power production and managing waste heat,
• scope of cooperation with neighbouring communes/ municipalities.

The document should be prepared in cooperation with all the local actors and evaluated by the regional authorities in relation to its relevance to the national energy policy. The procedure of approving the assumptions of the project for an energy supply plan involves presenting it for public discussion for 21 days. Preparing energy supply plans is necessary only in case when development plans in the energy production sector do not ensure realization of the assumptions.

In the field of energy planning, BAPE renders the following services:

• preparing assumptions for projects of energy supply plans for communes and municipalities,
• preparing projects of energy supply plans for communes and municipalities.

Our experiences in the field of communal energy planning cover:

• 8 assumptions for projects of energy supply plans for municipalities,
• 13 assumptions for projects of energy supply plans for communes, including 2 projects of 100% renewable communes.