Thousands of Czech solar owners lack imbalance arrangements and face fines

Thousands of owners of solar power plants have no arrangements in place for responsibility for imbalance at their installations. From July, they face fines for unauthorised deliveries to the grid, which could amount to hundreds of crowns a month. This is provided for by new legislation that mainly affects photovoltaic installations installed before the start of this year. Energy company ČEZ drew attention to the issue today.

Most photovoltaic installations registered by the end of last year have a single combined EAN code, assigned free of charge by the distributor. This is a unique 18-digit numerical code used to identify a consumption point. It can be found on an electricity bill from the supplier or in the grid connection agreement.

ČEZ has warned, however, that under the legislation, from 1 July installations must have two EAN codes: one for consumption and one for generation. For the generation code, owners must also arrange with a chosen trader for it to assume responsibility for so-called imbalance—the difference between planned and actual generation, which is subject to a charge. Without this, electricity cannot be sold or shared. The measure also applies to operators who do not have a contractual authorisation to feed surplus electricity into the grid.

According to ČEZ, owners of solar power plants who do not sign up with a trader therefore risk making unauthorised deliveries to the grid. Distributors can charge penalties for these of up to hundreds of crowns a month.

ČEZ has therefore begun contacting the customers affected by the measure. „Since last September, we have alerted more than 60,000 customers affected by the new legislative obligation. Around a third have still not responded. Arranging for a supplier to take responsibility can take more than a month, and as the deadline approaches, suppliers are likely to be inundated with requests, so it is best not to leave it until the last minute,“ said Tomáš Kadlec, CEO of ČEZ Prodej.

Photovoltaic installations connected since the start of this year must also have a trader in place to assume responsibility for imbalance linked to their generation EAN code. The relevant distributor should inform them of the deadline.