A Gamechanger in the Energy Market. Big Benefits for Consumers

• On July 1, 2025, Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne (PSE) launched the Central Energy Market Information System (CSIRE), which is intended to accelerate the development of the retail electricity market in Poland.
• Large consumers often switch energy suppliers. CSIRE will bring changes primarily to home users and micro and small businesses, where switching suppliers is still relatively rare.
• In the case of a medium-sized trading company, the expenditure on adapting to CSIRE could amount to several million zlotys, while in the case of large energy groups it could be several million or even several dozen million zlotys.

On July 1, 2025, Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne (PSE) launched the Central Energy Market Information System (CSIRE), which is intended to accelerate the development of the retail electricity market in Poland.

"I'm proud to say that Axpo Polska is the first energy trading company to achieve CSIRE certification. We were already ready for the initial CSIRE implementation date of July 1, 2024," says Paweł Klepacki, IT and Digital Transformation Manager at Axpo Polska.

As he explains, CSIRE means standardization of data exchange processes, greater transparency and acceleration of these processes.

The electricity market is like the telecommunications market

Paweł Klepacki compares what's happening in the energy market with what's happened in the telecommunications market. Porting a phone number between operators used to be very time-consuming, taking over a month. At the same time, it was expensive, costing 50-60 PLN even after 2000 – which is why customers rarely ported their numbers. The situation is similar in the energy market today. Very few customers have decided to switch suppliers, even though they don't even incur switching fees.

Following changes in the telecommunications market, number transfer became possible within 24 hours and at no cost – as a result, the number of operator changes increased 14-fold, says Paweł Klepacki.

In his opinion, what will happen on the energy market will be a catalyst for much more frequent changes of energy supplier and, consequently, will force greater competition on the market.

"At Axpo Polska, we have a wider window on the world than other energy companies in Poland. The Axpo Group includes many energy trading companies, including those in Italy and Spain, so we can compare ourselves to countries where systems similar to CSIRE are already in place. Such systems support the operations of trading companies, but also increase competitiveness, which is good for customers," emphasizes Kacper Lalasz, Deputy Director of Sales for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises at Axpo Polska.

He reports that in Italy, it's easy to switch from one energy supplier to another at any time. In Spain, thanks to the access to historical customer data, suppliers are able to more precisely forecast a customer's potential energy consumption. This allows them to offer a lower energy price, as there's less risk for the trading company, which bears the costs of a deviation in actual consumption from the customer's forecast.

"We often receive clients with only two invoices. Based on two invoices, in a business that doesn't have a stable consumption profile, it's difficult to predict long-term energy consumption. We don't know, for example, whether air conditioners use a lot of energy in the summer or heat pumps use a lot in the winter. CSIRE should positively impact the accuracy of our quotes for end customers," emphasizes Kacper Lalasz.

Small and medium-sized companies are less likely to change their energy supplier than large ones.

According to data from the Energy Regulatory Office (URE), since 2007, when this option was introduced in Poland, until the end of the first quarter of 2025, over a million customers have already changed their energy supplier, of which over 792,000 are household customers (tariff groups G) and over 264,000 are customers of tariff groups A, B and C.

The natural tendency is for customers with the highest energy consumption to switch suppliers the most. Over 80% of customers on the highest tariffs have already switched energy suppliers at least once.

For average-use customers, these changes are much less frequent, and for small businesses, these statistics are very low. There's also a group of residential customers, where a small percentage have changed their energy supplier.

- We believe that CSIRE will facilitate the transfer process, primarily for home users and micro and small enterprises, where there are still relatively few changes of suppliers - predicts Kacper Lalasz.

A step towards the full digitalization of the energy market in Poland

The introduction of CSIRE is also an important step towards the full digitalization of the energy market in Poland.

"Adapting to CSIRE requirements was a major change that affected the entire IT ecosystem. Changes were necessary, for example, in data exchange and integration. We had to ensure CSIRE's interoperability with our systems, and at the integration level, we had to improve data flow within the internal systems of companies that had to adapt to CSIRE," adds Paweł Klepacki.

A significant challenge is the shift in data analytics: there will now be much more data, and it will be standardized, so analysis is essential that allows for a better understanding of customer needs, and consequently, better profiling and tailoring offers to their individual needs. This was also a significant area of ​​investment.

Beyond integration and analytics, data security was another important area requiring significant investment. With more data, the risk of leaks increases.

"In addition to integration, analytics, scalability, and security, it's worth adding another important aspect: cost management. Adapting to CSIRE requirements and rebuilding our own IT infrastructure required significant investments, which in turn led to the need to better manage the costs of this modernized infrastructure. Already during the CSIRE testing phase, we experienced costs that were out of proportion, which demonstrates the importance of cost management," emphasizes Paweł Klepacki.

Smaller trading companies may have made a relatively small investment because they can access CSIRE through the Professional User Portal.

However, medium-sized and large trading companies have made significant investments, estimated at millions of zlotys. For a mid-sized trading company, the costs of adapting to CSIRE requirements could reach several million zlotys, while for large energy groups, the figure could reach several million or even several dozen million zlotys. In addition to capital expenditures, operating expenditures (OPEX) will also be necessary, and these have also increased.

A catalyst for change and business process revision

The implementation of CSIRE will be a catalyst for change and revision of business processes.

"I'm sure all energy companies are aware of this. From the perspective of the head of a business line for small and medium-sized enterprises, I see significant benefits for the client from implementing CSIRE. The client will know exactly how the supplier change will be handled, how certain they will be that the change was made in accordance with the contract's expiration date, and it will also provide the client with consistent data on distribution and sales invoices," says Kacper Lalasz.

He emphasizes that thanks to the central system, the regulator will be able to monitor whether all market participants are acting in accordance with the set standard.

"CSIRE is a catalyst for changing business processes. It's not only about adapting business processes to CSIRE, but also about optimizing them. CSIRE, due to its much greater data availability, makes it worthwhile to look at the market with a fresh perspective, optimizing business processes, and considering how they will deliver value to the client," assures Paweł Klepacki.

He points out that until now, there has been a lack of standardization in data exchange with DSOs, especially small DSOs (non-public distribution system operators) who provided this data in very different formats. The introduction of CSIRE will bring a single standard for this data and, consequently, accelerate many processes that are crucial for end customers, such as downloading meter data, which is necessary for invoicing.

"For example, if we have a client with several thousand collection points across Poland, including a small distribution system operator (OSD) with a single shopping mall, we need a general delivery agreement (GUD), which takes months to negotiate. This small distributor also often lacks appropriate IT systems, so meter readings are transmitted to us via email, often with an Excel file, and then we manually transfer them to our systems. Until now, there has been a significant problem with the lack of standardization in data exchange with the OSD. Thanks to CSIRE, there will be a single platform standardizing many processes, which should result in measurable operational savings," emphasizes Kacper Lalasz.

Artificial intelligence in the service of the energy market

One of the hottest concepts in economics, including the energy sector, is artificial intelligence. While this trend doesn't always translate into tangible results, in the case of the energy market, positive changes are clearly visible.

"Artificial intelligence is something new, especially considering the digital immaturity of the Polish energy sector. We're still in the early stages of AI development; if we compare it to human life, we're still in its infancy. Effective use of AI requires significant digital maturity, which we lack as an industry," explains Paweł Klepacki.

The use of AI also requires large data sets, which, thanks to CSIRE, trading companies will have at their disposal.

"Our experience from other markets shows that there is significant potential for using AI primarily in two areas: broadly defined customer service, where service quality and customer satisfaction can be measured. Such solutions are already being used at the Axpo Group, for example in Portugal. Furthermore, there is significant potential for automating internal processes using AI. It's clear today that artificial intelligence will certainly change the reality we live in, but we don't yet know exactly what it will look like. Looking at other sectors, we don't always see a clear business value when it comes to using AI. Monitoring market statistics, I see that the biggest challenge is finding clear business examples of successful AI use," adds Paweł Klepacki.

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The article was created in cooperation with Axpo.