Mandatory company energy audit in Poland – who is covered, what is the scope and how should a company prepare?

A mandatory company energy audit in Poland is one of those compliance obligations where mistakes often occur before the audit itself even begins. A company may determine its status incorrectly, omit part of its energy consumption, wrongly treat an ISO 50001 system as an automatic exemption, or assume that the 10 TJ and 85 TJ thresholds introduced by the new EED already apply in Poland from 2026.

As at the date of this article, Polish law still links the obligation primarily to the status of the business: an audit is carried out every 4 years by an undertaking that is not a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise within the meaning of Poland’s Entrepreneurs’ Law. At the same time, Directive (EU) 2023/1791 changes the EU model to an energy-consumption criterion, while the Polish UC77 implementation bill proposes thresholds of 10 TJ and 85 TJ. However, the bill is not yet binding law.

That is why, in 2026, three issues must be kept separate: what is currently binding in Poland, what follows from the EU directive, and what is only proposed in the Polish implementation bill.

Key rules at a glance

• At present, the obligation to carry out a company energy audit in Poland follows from Articles 36–38 of the Energy Efficiency Act.
• The audit must be carried out every 4 years by an undertaking that is not a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise within the meaning of Poland’s Entrepreneurs’ Law, unless a statutory exemption applies.
• For the purposes of the current obligation, a “large enterprise” is, in practice, an undertaking that did not meet the criteria for a medium-sized enterprise in either of the last two financial years. For each year, the following are assessed jointly: fewer than 250 employees and turnover of up to EUR 50 million or total balance-sheet assets of up to EUR 43 million.
• The audit must be based on up-to-date, representative, measured and identifiable data. The detailed review must cover buildings or groups of buildings, industrial installations and transport which together account for at least 90% of the undertaking’s total energy consumption.
• Audit-related data must be retained for 5 years.
• The President of the Polish Energy Regulatory Office (URE) must be notified within 30 days of completion of the audit, but no later than 31 December of the year in which the undertaking is required to carry it out. The notification must include information on the energy savings that could be achieved.
• For failure to carry out the audit, the President of URE may impose a penalty of up to 5% of the undertaking’s revenue earned in the previous tax year. This is the maximum penalty, not an automatic rate.
• The thresholds of 10 TJ (2.78 GWh) for an audit and 85 TJ (23.61 GWh) for an energy management system follow from the new EED and are included in the UC77 bill. As at 20 August 2026, they had not yet replaced the current criterion under Article 36 of the Polish Act.

Auditor’s comment: before planning the technical scope, it is worth closing two formal issues first: correctly determine the undertaking’s status and establish the exact date of the previous audit. This helps avoid a situation where the company only starts collecting data when the deadline is already very close.

Who is subject to the mandatory company energy audit in Poland?

Under current Polish law, the obligation applies to an undertaking that is not a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise within the meaning of Poland’s Entrepreneurs’ Law. The Energy Efficiency Act does not create a separate definition of a “large enterprise”; in practice, a large enterprise is therefore an entity that no longer falls within any SME category.

In simple terms: when is a company a large enterprise?

The key rule is this: to remain a medium-sized enterprise, an undertaking must in at least one of the last two financial years meet two conditions at the same time:

1. the average annual number of employees was fewer than 250, and
2. net annual turnover did not exceed the equivalent of EUR 50 million or total balance-sheet assets did not exceed the equivalent of EUR 43 million.

If the company meets these conditions in at least one of the last two years, it may still qualify as a medium-sized enterprise and the current obligation under Article 36(1) does not apply. If, however, it fails to meet the medium-sized enterprise criteria in both of the last two years, it should be treated as a large enterprise for the purposes of the mandatory audit, unless a statutory exemption applies.

Qualification examples

Example 1 – 260 employees but low turnover. The company employed an annual average of 260 people in year A and 270 in year B. Turnover was only EUR 20 million and assets EUR 15 million. Despite the low financial values, the undertaking does not meet the employment condition in either of the two years and must therefore be treated as a large enterprise for the purposes of Article 36.

Example 2 – few employees but both financial limits exceeded. The company employed 180 people in each of the two years, but its turnover was EUR 65 million and total assets EUR 50 million. If this was the case in both of the last two years, the undertaking does not meet the medium-sized enterprise definition and is subject to the current audit obligation.

Example 3 – high turnover does not always mean a large enterprise. The company has 180 employees, turnover of EUR 80 million and total assets of EUR 35 million. If this combination occurred in at least one of the last two years, the financial condition for a medium-sized enterprise is met because assets are below EUR 43 million. Turnover above EUR 50 million alone therefore does not determine whether the obligation applies.

Example 4 – one year with 250+ employees is not always enough. In year A, the company employed 270 people. In year B, it employed 220 people, had turnover of EUR 54 million and assets of EUR 40 million. Year B meets the medium-sized enterprise criteria because employment is below 250 and assets do not exceed EUR 43 million. In this case, the company may still remain a medium-sized enterprise.

Example 5 – different reasons for exceeding the criteria in two years. In year A, the company employed 270 people. In year B, it employed 220 people but had turnover of EUR 55 million and assets of EUR 45 million. Year A fails because of employment, while year B fails because both financial limits are exceeded. Since neither of the two years meets the medium-sized enterprise criteria, the company is subject to the audit obligation unless an exemption applies.

What data are needed for this qualification?

For each undertaking being assessed, prepare:

1. average annual employment expressed as full-time equivalents for the last two financial years,
2. net annual turnover from the sale of goods, products and services and from financial operations for both years,
3. total balance-sheet assets at the end of both years,
4. the start and end dates of the financial years.

Amounts expressed in euro are converted into Polish zloty at the average NBP exchange rate on the last day of the financial year selected for determining the undertaking’s status.

What about average annual employment?

Poland’s Entrepreneurs’ Law requires it to be calculated in full-time equivalents. The calculation excludes, among others, employees on the types of parental, carer’s and childcare leave specified in the Act, as well as persons employed for vocational training.

If the company has been operating for less than one year, the separate rules in Poland’s Entrepreneurs’ Law for undertakings operating for less than one year apply.

Corporate groups and related entities – do the data need to be aggregated?

This is one of the most frequently disputed issues. When determining SME status for State-aid purposes, businesses are familiar with the rules for aggregating the data of partner and linked enterprises. Those rules should not, however, be automatically transferred to the obligation under Article 36 of the Polish Energy Efficiency Act.

The current statutory cross-reference is to the definitions in Poland’s Entrepreneurs’ Law. Those definitions contain no mechanism requiring the employment, turnover and assets of all related entities to be added together. In its published guidance on mandatory company energy audits, URE has likewise stated that the rules do not require capital links to be examined in order to determine whether an undertaking is “large”.

In practice, this means that formal status is assessed at the level of the individual undertaking, rather than automatically for the group as a whole.

This does not mean, however, that the group structure is irrelevant to the audit itself. It is necessary to determine, among other things:

• which company actually consumes the energy,
• which company is party to the supplier contracts,
• who uses the buildings and installations,
• how utilities are recharged between entities,
• whether shared infrastructure supplies several companies,
• to which undertaking a given energy consumption should be attributed.

Auditor’s comment: in corporate groups, it is useful to prepare a simple “entity – site – meter – contract – energy user” map. This separates the formal question of company status from the technical energy balance and reduces the risk of double counting or omitting consumption.

Who is exempt from the obligation?

The Polish Act provides an exemption for an undertaking that has:

• an energy management system specified in the Polish Standard concerning energy management systems, or
• an EMAS environmental management system,

provided that a company energy audit has been carried out within that system.

ISO 50001: the Polish Standard matters, not merely the label “ISO 50001”

This condition should be checked carefully. Article 36(2) expressly refers to a system specified in a Polish Standard. The current Polish adoption of ISO 50001 is PN-EN ISO 50001:2018-09. In its guidance, URE also links the exemption to a system certified in accordance with PN-EN ISO 50001.

Therefore, it should not automatically be assumed that every certificate described only as “ISO 50001”, or issued under a foreign national standard, qualifies for an exemption in Poland. Before relying on Article 36(2), it is worth checking whether the system documentation and certificate refer to PN-EN ISO 50001 and whether the system includes a review or audit meeting the minimum requirements for a company energy audit under Polish law.

This does not mean that the document itself must be prepared in Polish. The Polish Committee for Standardization publishes PN-EN ISO 50001:2018-09 in both Polish and English. What matters is the reference to the Polish Standard bearing the PN designation, not the language of the document.

Possession of a certificate alone is also insufficient if the system does not include an audit or review that meets the statutory requirements. URE states that regular energy reviews carried out within a PN-EN ISO 50001 system may satisfy the minimum requirements for a company energy audit.

Does a company using the exemption still have to notify URE?

Yes. The exemption under Article 36(2) does not exempt an undertaking from notifying the President of URE. Article 38 expressly covers undertakings that have carried out a company energy audit within an energy management system or EMAS.

In practice, the four-year company energy audit cycle still needs to be monitored. In the year in which the next mandatory audit would otherwise fall due, an undertaking relying on Article 36(2) should have an audit or review meeting the company energy audit requirements carried out within the system and notify URE within 30 days of its completion, but no later than 31 December of that year.

Polish law does not impose a separate annual obligation to notify URE merely that an ISO 50001 certificate is held. The system must, however, operate continuously and energy reviews are performed regularly. In its PN-EN ISO 50001 guidance, URE has indicated that such reviews take place at least once a year, i.e. more frequently than the four-year ordinary audit cycle. For Article 38, what matters is notification of the company energy audit carried out within the system, not the certificate itself.

When must the next audit be carried out?

The current rule is straightforward: a company energy audit in Poland is carried out every 4 years.

The safest way to determine the deadline for the next audit is to refer to the date on which the previous audit was actually carried out, rather than the year it was started, the date the auditor’s contract was signed, or the date of the later notification to URE.

If the previous audit was carried out, for example, on 15 November 2022, the next four-year cycle falls in 2026. It is not advisable to plan completion for the very end of the deadline, because after the audit there is still an obligation to notify the President of URE.

What if a company is only now becoming a “large” enterprise?

Care is required here. The Act identifies the category of undertaking subject to the obligation and sets a four-year frequency, but it currently contains no separate universal provision stating that an undertaking which loses SME status for the first time has, for example, 30 or 90 days, or invariably until the end of the year, to complete its first audit.

Therefore, an automatic rule such as “the company became large in July, so the deadline is always 31 December” should not be used. When an undertaking first becomes subject to the obligation, the point at which its status was determined should be documented, the assessment should begin without delay and – where the facts are unusual – the adopted legal or regulatory approach should be confirmed.

In every case, however, there is a clear deadline for notifying URE after the audit has been carried out: within 30 days of completion, but no later than 31 December of the year in which the undertaking is required to carry out the audit.

Do the 10 TJ and 85 TJ thresholds already apply from 2026?

Not as the current criterion under Article 36 of the Polish Act.

The new Energy Efficiency Directive – Directive (EU) 2023/1791 – moves away from a model based on enterprise size and links obligations to energy consumption levels.

Article 11 of the Directive provides for:

• for enterprises with average annual energy consumption over the previous 3 years exceeding 85 TJ – a certified energy management system,
• for enterprises with average annual consumption exceeding 10 TJ that have not implemented an energy management system – an energy audit,
• the first audit for the latter group by 11 October 2026 and subsequent audits at least every 4 years,
• an energy management system for enterprises above 85 TJ by 11 October 2027 at the latest.

The Directive required, among other provisions, Article 11 and Annex VI to be transposed into national law by 11 October 2025. In Poland, that process has not yet been completed.

What does the UC77 bill provide for?

As at 20 August 2026, the UC77 bill was listed in the Polish Council of Ministers’ legislative work programme. The Chancellery of the Prime Minister still described it as a draft law intended to implement Directive 2023/1791.

The bill provides, among other things, for:

The Chancellery of the Prime Minister gives Q3 2026 as the planned date for adoption of the UC77 bill by the Council of Ministers. A legislative timetable does not, however, mean that the provisions have already entered into force.

What should a company do during the transition period?

The most important point is not to replace the current Polish rules with the proposed thresholds.

In practical terms, three situations are worth considering:

1. Large enterprise under the current Article 36, but consumption below 10 TJ – the current audit obligation may still apply. The company should not assume that the planned amendment has already exempted it.
2. SME with consumption above 10 TJ – consumption alone does not yet create an obligation under the current Article 36, but the company should prepare a three-year consumption balance and monitor the final provisions implementing the EED in Poland.
3. Enterprise above 85 TJ – it should urgently assess its readiness to implement an energy management system, because this direction follows directly from the EED and is included in the UC77 bill.

The new thresholds may cover companies that are not “large” today – transport is one example

Changing the criterion from enterprise size to average consumption of all energy carriers over three years may significantly broaden the group of entities subject to the obligation. This is not limited to manufacturing. A trading, logistics or service company may have only a small office but high energy consumption in vehicle fuels.

Heavy-truck fleet example. Assume 10 tractor units, each covering around 100,000 km per year and consuming an average of 30 l of diesel per 100 km. Such a fleet will use around 300,000 litres of diesel per year. At a calorific value of 36 MJ/l, this is about 10.8 TJ per year. This means that around 10 intensively used HGVs alone may exceed the proposed 10 TJ threshold – before electricity, heating or other energy carriers are added. For the 85 TJ threshold, a comparable scale would be roughly 80 such vehicles if operating parameters were similar.

Sales car fleet example. One hundred cars each travelling 30,000 km per year and consuming an average of 8 l/100 km use around 240,000 litres of fuel in total. This corresponds to roughly 7.7 TJ for petrol or 8.6 TJ for diesel. The fleet alone may therefore still remain below 10 TJ, but once energy used in offices, warehouses or other facilities is added, the company may exceed the threshold. At around 40,000 km per year, the same fleet of 100 cars already represents about 10.2–11.5 TJ of fuel energy, depending on fuel type.

These are illustrative calculations showing the scale, not an automatic qualification of any particular company. Once the new rules are implemented in Poland, actual consumption of all energy carriers and the three-year average will need to be calculated. It is also worth remembering that transport is already part of the audit under current Polish law and may form part of the 90% consumption covered by the detailed review. The EED change primarily affects who will be subject to the obligation.

The final Polish Act may introduce transitional provisions, detailed qualification rules and new reporting obligations. Until those rules are enacted, they should not be inferred from the project description alone.

What scope should a mandatory company energy audit cover?

The minimum requirements follow directly from Article 37 of the Polish Energy Efficiency Act.

The audit is intended to produce detailed and validated calculations for proposed energy-efficiency improvement measures and to provide information on the energy savings that could be achieved.

1. Data must be up to date and measurable

The audit must be carried out on the basis of data that are:

• up to date,
• representative,
• measured,
• identifiable.

For electricity, the Polish Act also requires power demand to be taken into account.

In practice, an annual invoice may be sufficient for part of the purchased-energy balance, but it will usually not show where energy is consumed or what the load profiles look like. More complex sites therefore require data from meters, submeters, BMS, SCADA, production systems or supplementary measurements.

2. The detailed review must cover at least 90% of energy consumption

The Polish Act identifies three main areas:

• buildings or groups of buildings,
• industrial installations,
• transport.

Together, they should account for at least 90% of the undertaking’s total energy consumption.

This does not mean “90% of the number of sites” or “90% of the floor area”. Energy consumption is the reference point.

If an undertaking has 20 sites and 4 production plants account for 92% of total consumption, this does not automatically mean that the other 16 sites can be completely omitted. A reliable balance for the entire undertaking must first be prepared to document which areas make up the required 90%; only then can the required depth of review be planned.

3. Economic analysis should go beyond simple payback

Article 37 provides that, where possible, the audit should be based on a life-cycle cost analysis of a building, group of buildings or industrial installation rather than solely on simple payback.

This matters for investments whose effects include not only annual energy savings but also:

• service and maintenance costs,
• equipment lifetime,
• residual values,
• different solution lifetimes,
• cost of capital and the discount rate.

4. The audit must identify potential savings

The report should make it possible to move from the energy balance to specific measures. At an industrial site these may include, for example, optimisation of compressed air, refrigeration, drives, ventilation, heating systems, heat recovery, lighting, production processes or energy-use management.

Not every audit needs to cover the same technologies. The scope depends on where significant consumption and improvement potential actually lie.

Does the audit cover rented facilities?

The legal title to a property does not automatically determine the scope. What matters is whether the energy associated with a given site constitutes consumption by the undertaking and whether the undertaking has a genuine influence over how the building or installation is used.

For rented premises, it is worth checking:

• who is the customer named on the invoice,
• whether utilities are recharged,
• whether consumption is metered individually,
• who operates the installations,
• who can make modernisation decisions,
• how responsibilities are divided between landlord and tenant.

In its earlier guidance, URE emphasised that for attributing energy consumption, the way energy is used is more important than ownership title alone. For atypical lease arrangements, it is worth documenting the adopted audit boundary in the report.

What data should be prepared for a company energy audit?

Well-prepared data shorten the time needed to organise the energy balance and allow more time for technical analysis.

Formal data

Prepare:

• company details and organisational structure,
• average annual employment for the last two financial years,
• turnover and total assets for the last two years,
• information on the financial year,
• a list of related companies and the method used to allocate shared utilities – if the group is complex,
• the date and a copy of the previous audit,
• ISO 50001 or EMAS documentation if the company is considering an exemption.

Energy data

The data most commonly needed are:

• electricity invoices and billing data,
• 15-minute or hourly profiles, where available,
• gas consumption and invoices,
• consumption of district heating, steam, cooling and other purchased utilities,
• consumption of fuels: oil, LPG, coal, biomass and other energy carriers,
• fuels used in transport,
• data on own energy generation,
• meter and submeter readings,
• contracted, ordered and peak power values.

For the current audit, Polish law does not prescribe one fixed number of months of data. In practice, at least one full representative year should be prepared, and a longer history for undertakings with strong seasonality. In 2026, it also makes sense to prepare three full years of consumption for all energy carriers, as this is the period needed for qualification under the new EED and the UC77 bill.

Technical and process data

Useful information includes:

• process and electrical diagrams,
• a list of main equipment with power ratings and operating hours,
• data from BMS, SCADA and energy-monitoring systems,
• parameters of boilers, compressors, chillers, pumps and fans,
• information on temperatures, pressures and flows,
• production data allowing consumption to be normalised,
• shift schedules,
• building floor areas and how the buildings are used,
• parameters of ventilation, heating, cooling and lighting,
• fleet and transport data.

Economic data

For evaluating measures, the following are useful:

• current energy and fuel prices,
• tariff components relevant to the solution being analysed,
• maintenance and service costs,
• planned investments and refurbishments,
• expected equipment service life,
• financial assumptions used by the undertaking.

The diagnosis of energy consumption should not be confused with an analysis of the purchase price of energy. Both areas may affect a company’s costs, but a company energy audit is primarily intended to explain where, how much and for what purpose energy is consumed and what potential exists to improve energy efficiency.

How should plants and sites be prepared for the audit?

Data are only half of the preparation. The other half is access to the installations under real operating conditions.

Appoint a coordinator on the company side

Ideally, one person should be responsible for:

• collecting the data,
• contact with the sites,
• arranging site visits,
• access to documentation,
• coordination with production, maintenance, finance and energy procurement.

In larger organisations, additional local coordinators are useful.

Agree the rules for the site visit

Before the visit, it is worth agreeing:

• health and safety requirements and induction training,
• access to switchboards, plant rooms, boiler rooms and roofs,
• persons authorised to open cabinets or technical areas,
• whether measurements can be carried out,
• photography rules,
• restrictions arising from production and confidentiality.

Check when the installations operate under representative conditions

An audit carried out during a production shutdown may not reflect actual loads. If measurements of compressed air, electricity, flows or temperatures are planned, it is necessary to establish when production is operating in its typical mode.

Identify data gaps before the visit

If a major energy consumer has no submeter, temporary metering should be planned in advance. Otherwise, the auditor may only discover during the visit that an additional measurement campaign is needed for a reliable assessment.

Auditor’s comment: a good audit does not begin with walking around the plant with a thermal imaging camera. First, an energy balance and a list of areas that cannot be reliably explained using existing data should be prepared. Only then can a measurement answer a specific question.

What does the audit process look like step by step?

The organisational scope depends on the undertaking, but a typical process can be arranged in seven stages:

1. Formal qualification – confirmation of the obligation, deadline and any exemption.
2. Defining the audit boundaries – list of entities, sites, energy carriers and data sources.
3. Energy balance – compilation of total consumption and selection of areas accounting for at least 90%.
4. Review of documentation and operating data – power profiles, process data, costs and schedules.
5. Site visits and supplementary measurements – to the extent needed to confirm the balance and modernisation opportunities.
6. Assessment of measures – calculation of energy savings, investment expenditure, effects and profitability.
7. Report, discussion of results and post-audit obligations – delivery of findings, preparation of information for URE and archiving.

An audit “for compliance” versus an audit as a genuine energy diagnosis

This distinction is often misunderstood.

There is no separate “simplified statutory audit” in which the requirements of Article 37 can be omitted merely because the undertaking is interested only in compliance. The minimum legal requirements are the same.

The difference may lie in how far the company wants to go beyond the statutory minimum.

Audit focused primarily on compliance

It should still:

• correctly document a scope covering at least 90% of consumption,
• use up-to-date and measured data,
• include a detailed review of significant areas,
• identify measures and potential savings,
• meet the requirements for economic analysis.

It may, however, exclude extensive implementation analyses, additional measurement campaigns or investment variants that are not necessary to demonstrate reliable compliance with the Act.

Audit as a management tool

A diagnostic version may additionally include:

• long-term load measurements,
• normalisation of consumption against production output and external conditions,
• analysis of the causes of losses rather than merely quantifying them,
• modelling of technical variants,
• project ranking by CAPEX, NPV, LCC and risk,
• a measurement and verification plan for savings after implementation,
• preparation of a multi-year investment roadmap,
• integration with ISO 50001, the energy strategy or the decarbonisation plan.

The biggest difference is therefore not whether “we meet 90% or not”. It is whether the report ends with the required diagnosis or becomes a working tool for managing energy investments.

Who may carry out the mandatory company energy audit?

The current Article 36(3) of the Polish Act allows two options.

The audit may be carried out by:

1. an entity independent of the audited undertaking with the knowledge and professional experience required to carry out this type of audit, or
2. an expert employed by the undertaking, provided that they are not directly involved in the activity being audited.

At present, Polish law does not impose a simple requirement for a company energy auditor to hold one specific State licence number or be entered on a mandatory list of auditors.

When selecting a contractor, it is therefore worth checking not only formal independence but also:

• experience in the relevant industry,
• competence in analysing industrial processes,
• measurement capabilities,
• the method used to build the 90% energy balance,
• the methodology for calculating savings,
• the quality of the economic analysis,
• how assumptions are documented.

The PN-EN 16247 family of standards can provide a useful reference for organising the audit, but it does not replace the requirements of Polish law.

The UC77 bill provides for changes to the qualification and certification system for professions related to energy efficiency. Until the bill becomes law in Poland, these new rules should not be presented as binding.

How long does a company energy audit take and how much does it cost?

Polish law does not specify a minimum number of days for the audit, a required number of report pages or a single statutory price. The price depends mainly on the number of sites, the type of processes, the quality of the data and the extent of measurements required.

As an indicative reference for budget planning, the following can be assumed:

These amounts are indicative and are neither a statutory price list nor a guaranteed offer for every undertaking. For large multi-site organisations, there is no practical universal upper limit – the scope may be many times larger than for a simple audit of a single facility.

The price is particularly affected by:

• number of sites – each additional site means an additional balance, data set, site visit and analysis,
• data quality – the fewer organised invoices, profiles, submeters and production data are available, the more work is required to reconstruct the balance,
• age of the plant – older facilities more often lack up-to-date documentation, metering and unambiguous installation diagrams,
• complexity of the audit boundary – e.g. several companies, recharged utilities, shared installations, rented space or a dispersed fleet,
• process complexity – compressed air, steam, refrigeration, heat recovery, own energy sources or continuous processes require deeper analysis,
• need for measurements – lack of submeter data may require temporary measurements of energy, flows, temperatures, pressures or other parameters,
• expected level of detail – an audit used as a real investment roadmap will usually require more work than a study limited to the scope necessary for legal compliance.

In practice, the rule is simple: the less data there are, the older and more complex the plant, the more difficult the organisational boundary and the greater the number of sites, the higher the audit cost.

What obligations does a company have after the audit?

Receiving the report does not complete the company’s obligations.

1. Notification of the President of URE

The undertaking notifies the President of URE that the audit has been carried out:

• within 30 days of the date on which it was carried out,
• but no later than 31 December of the year in which the undertaking is required to carry out the audit.

The notification must include information on the energy savings that could be achieved as identified by the audit.

The provision does not require the entire audit report to be sent automatically to URE with the notification. The report and data must, however, be retained in case of an inspection.

From 1 January 2026, URE identifies Poland’s e-Delivery service (e-Doręczenia) as the primary channel for electronic correspondence. The public e-Delivery service is legally equivalent to registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt. When sending documents, the current URE requirements for electronic signatures on attachments should be checked.

Audit completed at year-end – 31 December is the final deadline

The 30-day period cannot move the notification obligation into the following year where the undertaking’s audit year ends on 31 December. For example, if the audit is completed on 20 December 2026, a straightforward 30-day count would extend into January 2027, but Article 38 sets an additional cut-off: the notification must be submitted no later than 31 December 2026.

If the audit is completed in the last days of December, a practical solution is to send the notification via e-Doręczenia to URE’s current address and retain evidence of dispatch and delivery. This should not be left until the last hours of 31 December – the information on potential energy savings must be prepared and the required electronic documents properly signed beforehand.

2. Retaining data for 5 years

Data relating to the company energy audit must be retained for inspection purposes for 5 years.

In practice, it is worth retaining not only the final PDF but also:

• the energy balance,
• source data tables,
• measurement files,
• key calculations,
• the version of the information submitted to URE,
• proof of delivery.

3. Determining the date of the next audit

The next-cycle date should be entered in the compliance system or management calendar immediately after the current audit is closed.

4. Deciding what to do with the recommendations

Current Articles 36–38 do not impose a general obligation to implement all measures identified in the audit. The audit must, however, provide information on potential savings and validated calculations, so its business value only materialises when the recommendations are assessed as investment projects.

The new EED goes further: for enterprises covered by Article 11, it provides for a concrete and feasible action plan based on audit recommendations and reporting on implementation progress. This is another reason why, in 2026, the audit should be structured so that its recommendations can later be translated into an investment plan.

What are the penalties for failing to carry out the audit?

Failure to carry out a mandatory company energy audit is an infringement specified in Article 39 of the Polish Energy Efficiency Act.

The penalty may amount to up to 5% of the undertaking’s revenue earned in the previous tax year.

This distinction is important: 5% is the maximum penalty, not an automatic sanction for every delay. When setting the amount, the President of URE takes into account:

• the extent of the infringement,
• whether infringements are repeated,
• the financial capacity of the penalised entity.

Article 41 also provides for the possibility of refraining from imposing a penalty in specified circumstances, including where the infringement is negligible and the entity fulfilled the obligation before the President of URE became aware of the infringement.

A compliance strategy should not, however, be based on the assumption that URE will first send a reminder. The obligation is imposed on the undertaking by law regardless of whether it receives a letter from the authority.

Company energy audit versus energy efficiency audit

The names are similar, but they refer to different types of studies.

A company energy audit (AEP) is comprehensive. For undertakings covered by Article 36 of the Polish Act, it is carried out periodically and covers a significant share of the undertaking’s total energy consumption.

An energy efficiency audit (AEE) usually concerns a specific energy-efficiency improvement measure and has a different legal basis and function, for example within Poland’s energy efficiency certificate (white certificate) scheme.

In practice, the results of a company energy audit may identify projects for which separate, more detailed calculations appropriate to an energy efficiency audit are subsequently prepared.

Checklist: how to prepare the undertaking without chaos

1. Identify the specific entity or entities for which the obligation is being assessed.
2. Collect employment, turnover and total assets for the last two financial years.
3. Document how the undertaking’s status was determined.
4. Check the date of the previous audit and the deadline for the next cycle.
5. If relying on an exemption, verify that the energy management system refers to PN-EN ISO 50001 and that an audit or review meeting the statutory requirements has been carried out within it.
6. Prepare a list of sites, contracts and energy meters.
7. Collect data for all energy carriers – not only electricity and gas.
8. Prepare a preliminary balance of total consumption and identify the areas accounting for at least 90%.
9. Prepare technical and production data to explain consumption profiles.
10. Determine where metering is missing and whether temporary measurements are needed.
11. Plan site visits for periods of representative operation.
12. After the audit, submit the notification to URE on time, retain the documentation for 5 years and enter the date of the next audit in the compliance system.
13. At the same time, prepare a three-year balance of all energy carriers so that the company is ready for implementation of the new EED thresholds in Poland.

Frequently asked questions

Does every company with at least 250 employees have to carry out an audit?

If average annual employment is at least 250 people in both of the last two financial years, the company does not meet the definition of a medium-sized enterprise in either year and is covered by the current audit obligation, regardless of turnover and assets. If the threshold of 250 employees was exceeded in only one year, the other year must be checked; if the undertaking met the medium-sized enterprise criteria in that year, one year with 250+ employees alone does not determine the obligation.

Is an undertaking with turnover above EUR 50 million always “large”?

No. With fewer than 250 full-time equivalents, it is sufficient for total assets not to exceed EUR 43 million in a given year for the financial condition for a medium-sized enterprise still to be met. The “at least one of the last two years” rule must also be remembered.

Do the data for the entire corporate group have to be aggregated?

The current Polish Entrepreneurs’ Law, to which Article 36 refers, contains no mechanism for automatically aggregating the data of related entities in the same way as State-aid rules. URE has also presented this approach in its guidance. Each case should nevertheless be organised at the level of the specific undertakings and actual energy consumption.

Does ISO 50001 exempt a company from the audit?

It may provide a basis for exemption, but the certificate alone is not enough. The Polish Act refers to an energy management system specified in a Polish Standard and to an audit carried out within that system. In practice, the reference to PN-EN ISO 50001 and the scope of the energy review must therefore be verified. An undertaking using the exemption must still notify the President of URE of the audit carried out within the system.

Is a certificate issued only under a foreign ISO 50001 national standard sufficient?

This should not be assumed automatically. Article 36(2) expressly refers to a Polish Standard. Before using the certificate as the basis for an exemption, it is necessary to check whether the system refers to PN-EN ISO 50001 and whether the audit within the system meets the statutory requirements. The language of the document itself is not decisive – PN-EN ISO 50001 is also available in an English-language version.

How often must URE be notified if the company uses the ISO 50001 exemption?

For the purposes of the mandatory company energy audit, the four-year cycle should be monitored. In the year in which the next company energy audit would fall due, a company using the exemption should notify URE of the audit carried out within the system. The deadline is 30 days from its completion, but no later than 31 December of that year. There is no separate obligation to report the mere possession of an ISO 50001 certificate to URE every year.

What percentage of energy consumption must be covered by the audit?

The detailed review of buildings or groups of buildings, industrial installations and transport must together account for at least 90% of the undertaking’s total energy consumption.

Is transport included in the 90%?

Yes. Article 37 expressly lists transport as one of the areas of the detailed review.

Can a rented building be included in the audit?

Yes, if its consumption is related to the undertaking’s activities. The fact that the company does not own the property is not sufficient to omit the consumption automatically. The way the energy is used and billed must be analysed.

How often must a company energy audit be carried out?

Currently – every 4 years.

How much time does a company have to notify URE?

Within 30 days of the audit, but no later than 31 December of the year in which the undertaking is required to carry it out. If the audit is completed, for example, on 20 December, the full 30 days cannot be used to submit the notification in January – 31 December remains the final deadline.

Is the entire report sent to URE?

Article 38 requires notification that the audit has been carried out and the inclusion of information on the energy savings that could be achieved. The report itself must be retained together with the data for inspection purposes.

Does URE have to remind the company of the obligation first?

No. The obligation arises directly from Polish law and does not depend on receiving a request or reminder.

Do Polish companies automatically switch to the 10 TJ threshold from 11 October 2026?

As at 20 August 2026, this could not be stated. The 10 TJ threshold follows from Article 11 of the EED, and the Polish UC77 bill provides for its implementation, but it remains a bill. Until Polish implementing provisions enter into force, the binding Article 36 should not be replaced independently by the proposed criterion.

Is it worth preparing a three-year energy balance now?

Yes. This is sensible preparation for the changes resulting from the EED because the new criterion is based on average annual energy consumption over the previous three years and includes all energy carriers.

Can a vehicle fleet alone exceed the proposed 10 TJ threshold?

Yes. As an indication, 10 HGVs each travelling around 100,000 km per year at 30 l/100 km represent approximately 10.8 TJ of energy in diesel fuel. A fleet of 100 intensively used passenger cars may likewise be close to or above 10 TJ, depending on mileage, fuel consumption and fuel type. Under the proposed rules, all other energy carriers used by the undertaking would also need to be added and a three-year average calculated.

Are a company energy audit and an energy efficiency audit the same thing?

No. A company energy audit is a comprehensive audit of an undertaking and – for entities covered by Article 36 of the Polish Act – a periodic obligation. An energy efficiency audit concerns a specific energy-efficiency improvement measure and serves a different legal and technical function.

Summary

In 2026, the most important point is to distinguish the law currently in force in Poland from the forthcoming change in the model.

Today, Poland’s mandatory company energy audit obligation is still based on the undertaking’s status. The first step is therefore to determine correctly whether the entity still falls within the SME category. The four-year cycle and any exemption must then be checked, a balance of all energy carriers prepared, and at least 90% of consumption covered by the detailed review.

At the same time, undertakings should prepare for implementation of the EED in Poland: collect a three-year history for all energy carriers and calculate average annual consumption. The 10 TJ and 85 TJ levels are particularly important, but until UC77 is enacted and enters into force, they should not be treated as a replacement for the current Article 36.

If, after its status has been verified, the company is subject to the obligation and would like to discuss carrying out the audit, it can contact Energy Trend.

Legal and official sources

• Act of 20 May 2016 on Energy Efficiency – consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2025, item 711
• Act of 6 March 2018 – Entrepreneurs’ Law – consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2025, item 1480
• URE – guidance on company energy audits
• Directive (EU) 2023/1791 of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy efficiency
• Chancellery of the Prime Minister – UC77 bill
• URE – e-Doręczenia as the primary form of electronic correspondence from 1 January 2026
• Polish Committee for Standardization – PN-EN ISO 50001:2018-09
• Regulation of the Minister of Climate of 24 June 2020 – fuel calorific values used in the transport examples

This article is for information purposes and describes the legal position verified as at 20 August 2026. Where a group has an unusual structure, an undertaking becomes subject to the obligation for the first time, or its status is disputed, the qualification should additionally be confirmed for the specific facts.