ČEZ and innogy to keep energy prices capped for Czech customers with high fixed tariffs

Energy companies ČEZ and innogy will keep energy prices capped next year for all their customers who still have fixed-price tariffs from previous years above the current government cap. This will affect 45.000 ČEZ customers and several thousand innogy customers. This follows from information provided by both companies to the Czech News Agency (ČTK) today. Other suppliers are also addressing the situation of customers whose prices exceed the government cap. Estimates suggested that up to 400.000 customers had such fixed prices at the beginning of the year; tens of thousands still do.

A government-imposed price cap on electricity and gas is in force throughout this year in Czechia. All customers therefore pay a maximum of 6000 crowns per megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity, including VAT, and 3000 crowns per MWh of gas. Distribution charges must be added to these amounts. The government caps apply regardless of whether customers have contracts with their suppliers at prices above the cap. The price caps will no longer apply next year.

From the beginning of January, customers who fixed their energy prices above the government cap two years ago during the energy crisis may therefore start paying significantly more. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, some customers in this situation could pay thousands or even tens of thousands of crowns more for energy. However, most suppliers say they are trying to address the situation of these customers. For example, ČEZ, innogy, E.ON and several other companies began offering these customers the option of switching to cheaper tariffs, mostly with fixed prices, during the year. Hundreds of thousands of customers have taken up these offers so far.

At the beginning of the year, ČEZ had about 160.000 customers who had fixed their prices above the government cap two years ago. „Most of the customers we contacted actively addressed their situation and accepted our offer to switch to a standard fixed-price tariff, but we still have more than 45.000 customers on record who did not respond. We do not want these customers to run into difficulties after the New Year, so we have decided to take the exceptional step of continuing to charge them the same price after the New Year as they pay now, that is, the level of the government caps,“ said Tomáš Kadlec, CEO of ČEZ Prodej.

Innogy also contacted more than 200.000 customers with high fixed prices during the year. According to spokesperson Pavel Grochál, the vast majority switched to a lower tariff. „In the end, we decided to lower prices for inactive customers too, to the level of the price caps. The energy crisis sent energy prices soaring to extreme levels, and the current decline in purchase prices will allow us to lower prices for these customers as well. We see this assistance as our final response to the energy crisis. We expect that further assistance from the state or energy companies on commodity prices will no longer be needed,“ said David Konvalina, innogy’s retail director.

E.ON also had several thousand customers with prices above the cap this year. According to spokesperson Roman Špěrňák, around two-thirds of them took the opportunity to switch to another fixed-price tariff during the year. „We currently have around 2000 customers who have chosen to remain on their original product. Our offer to them remains open. If these customers want to switch to a product below the cap without any penalties for ending their fixed-term contract early, they can take up our offer,“ Šperňák added.

Another major supplier, Pražská energetika (PRE), had not offered fixed-price products since autumn 2021, according to spokesperson Karel Hanzelka.