Our client’s success in a case concerning unjustified energy price increase

The court fully agreed with the argumentation of the Firm’s lawyers, declaring invalid the provisions of the electricity sale agreement allowing for a general possibility for the seller to change the price in the event of unspecified ‘significant changes in market conditions’. The contractual provisions were declared invalid primarily due to the lack of indication in the agreement of unambiguous and authoritative grounds for calculating the new price. The court also noted that the provisions in question were contrary to the principles of social co-existence.

It is worth noting that in the case in question, the seller increased the price by as much as 120% compared to the price originally agreed in the contract.

The judgment is extremely important because it shows that in cases of this type, the essence of the dispute often lies in the content of the contractual provisions themselves, without the need for a detailed examination of whether there was indeed a significant change in market conditions in 2018 and 2019 (which is difficult to question anyway). What is more, it may also be of significant importance for the future, in the context of the current significant increases in electricity prices on the Polish Power Exchange and the potential for trading companies to change prices in existing contracts.

The case was handled by Jan Sakławski and Karolina Wcisło-Karczewska – congratulations!