Newsletter 01/2023

Dear Clients,

We would like to inform you that the government has decided that the capping of electricity and gas prices will also apply to large enterprises. Large enterprises are defined as businesses that:

  1. employ more than 250 employees or
  2. their annual turnover exceeds EUR 50 million or their annual balance sheet exceeds EUR 43 million.

The energy price caps apply to large enterprises from 1 January 2023. Please find the most important information about the conditions of the capping of electricity and gas prices below.

 

Electricity price cap

 The price cap applies to all electricity consumption of all customers connected to the low-voltage distribution network. In the case of large enterprises connected to a higher-voltage distribution network the price cap applies to consumption not exceeding 80% of the highest consumption in a given calendar month in the previous 5 years. The price cap is set at CZK 5 per kWh excl. DPH (commodity price without other fees or charges).

The price cap applies automatically to all customers connected to the low-voltage distribution network in case of electricity consumption and all customers with annual consumption below 630 MWh in case of gas consumption. Large enterprises which do not meet these criteria must submit a statutory declaration to their energy suppliers.

The statutory declaration is based on a template attached to governmental decree no. 298/2022 Sb., on the setting of electricity and gas prices in an extraordinary market situation, and shall be submitted for the first time before the last day of the month preceding the month for which the price cap is requested. Therefore, if a large enterprise requests the price cap from 1 February 2023, it must complete and submit the statutory declaration to its gas and electricity suppliers by 31 January 2023.

There is an exception for January 2023, which means that if a large enterprise requests the price cap already from 1 January 2023, it is sufficient to submit the statutory declaration by 15 January 2023. Not much time is therefore left to submit the statutory declaration.

Please note that the statutory declaration is only submitted once and from then on, the price will be capped automatically. A new statutory declaration should only be submitted if there is a change in the information declared or in the requirements applicable to the price cap.

 

Gas price cap

 All customers with annual gas consumption below 630 MWh will have the price of all their gas consumption capped. In the case of large enterprises with annual gas consumption above 630 MWh the price cap applies to consumption not exceeding 80% of the highest consumption in a given calendar month in the previous 5 years. The price cap is set at CZK 2.5 per kWh excluding VAT (commodity price without other fees or charges).

Large enterprises that use gas not only for heating but also to produce electricity are required to complete additional annexes. These include the statement of the producer of heating energy if heat is produced from gas as set forth in the rules laid down by the governmental decree, or the statement of the customer using gas to produce electricity. These statements need to be submitted to the gas supplier at the end of each month to declare for which purpose the commodity has been used.

We will be happy to provide more details. If you have any questions, please, do not hesitate to contact us.