State will send first 8.3 billion to energy suppliers for energy price caps
The State has provided distributors with the first payment of the energy price support package. The distributors will receive a total of CZK 8.3 billion, or 70% of the actual costs. The figure is lower than expected, due to lower market prices. In fact, the expected sum was a maximum of 200 billion for the entire year (17 per month). However, the distributors dispute that it covers only a fraction of the costs. The Minister of Finance replies by saying that the bill will depend on consumption trends and changes in foreign markets. This first amount is only for the month of January, February and March and the amount will be calculated by the Energy Regulatory Office based on the decision of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
“It is impossible to estimate the development for the whole year based on January prices, at a time when the market is still volatile and can be influenced by many factors, including the weather. The only certainty is a saving in the order of billions compared to the initial estimate for the first month,’ says Kebort. According to ERO, the movement of the spot price in the market every 10€/MWh increases the government’s bill for price caps by 1.25 billion kroner per month.
The ceilings imposed by the government are CZK 6.000 per MWh for electricity and CZK 3.000 per MWh for gas. Distribution fees have to be added to these amounts. The compensation works on the basis of a very complex mechanism that does not only take into account the type of products, but also depends on whether the supplier’s price list was launched before or after the price caps were announced. The state therefore wanted to ensure that suppliers did not adjust their price lists just to obtain higher compensation.
Sources: https://www.idnes.cz/ ; https://www.camic.cz/
Sources of images: https://pixabay.com/ ; https://storyset.com/
