Czech government cuts funding allocated to supported energy sources

The amount of state budget funding allocated to supported energy sources will fall by 14.22 billion koruna this year to 22.78 billion koruna. This follows from the regulation, which the government approved yesterday, according to the results of its meeting. The cabinet decided to cut the support because the difference could not be paid out this year, while it could only be returned to the budget next year.

The originally planned costs of 37 billion koruna for supported energy sources also included transitional transformation support for heat. However, the European Commission recommended that European countries not apply this form of heat support during Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and instead support sectors affected by higher heat prices in other ways.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade, which submitted the regulation to the government, noted in its explanatory report that without a change to the support, the Electricity Market Operator (OTE) would not be able to return unused support funding to the ministry’s budget before the regular settlement in March next year. The regulation will allow 14.22 billion koruna to be returned to this year’s budget.