Czech households and businesses will pay renewable energy fees again next year

From next year, households and businesses will once again pay fees for renewable energy sources, as they did before last October. The state will no longer cover them in full, Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura (ODS) and Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela (STAN) announced at a press conference yesterday. Consumers will once again pay a fee of 599 crowns for every megawatt-hour of electricity they use. The government said this was a blanket measure that is not necessary now that energy prices are more favourable.

In response to high energy prices, the state abolished these fees for the public from last October through the end of this year, with the contribution paid solely from state funds. Before the measure was introduced, the state paid roughly half of the contributions, with consumers covering the other half.

„Given the fall in electricity prices, which are currently the seventh-lowest in the EU in the Czech Republic, (the government) has decided to return to the multi-source financing of supported energy sources that was in place in the Czech Republic until 2021. The state will thus save CZK 13.43 billion on subsidies next year,“ the Government Office said in a press release.

The regulation approved by the government yesterday provides for budget expenditure of CZK 9.35 billion next year.

If payments were divided in the same way as in previous years, the average household would pay around CZK 1,800 more for energy each year. „For businesses, the increase is to the statutory minimum, which means the same amount: CZK 490 excluding VAT (per megawatt-hour), unless they are in the reservation regime,“ Síkela added.

Stanjura said that various forms of social assistance, such as housing benefits, are available to families that would face hardship as a result.

According to an estimate by the Energy Regulatory Office (ERÚ), the total cost of supporting renewable energy sources will be around CZK 36 billion next year.