Thousands of Czech solar owners still lack imbalance responsibility arrangements

Thousands of owners of solar power plants in Czechia still do not have imbalance responsibility arranged for their installations. From July, they face penalties for unauthorised electricity supplied to the grid, which can amount to hundreds of crowns per month. Distribution companies have so far mostly refrained from imposing penalties and are continuing to alert photovoltaic electricity producers to the new obligation. This is according to information provided to the Czech News Agency (ČTK) by distributors. In addition to a penalty, hundreds of households also risk having their electricity sharing stopped because they have not arranged imbalance responsibility.

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. Since 1 July, however, solar installations have been required by law to have two EAN codes: one for consumption and one for generation. For the generation code, owners must also agree with a chosen electricity supplier that it will assume responsibility for the 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 are not contractually permitted to feed surplus electricity into the grid.

Electricity distributor EG.D, which manages distribution in the South Bohemian and South Moravian regions and parts of the Vysočina, Zlín and Olomouc regions, currently has around 2,000 photovoltaic electricity producers on its books who have not arranged imbalance responsibility. That is roughly one fifth of the original total. The company is continuing to alert customers to the need to meet the new requirement, spokesperson Lubomír Budný said. "If they fail to do so, the distributor may penalise them for unauthorised electricity supplied to the grid. The amount depends mainly on the volume of electricity supplied and the maximum 15-minute output, and the charge will then appear on their electricity bill," Budný said.

Among ČEZ customers, around 900 owners of solar power plants have not arranged imbalance responsibility with an electricity supplier, spokesperson Roman Gazdík said. "We have been continuously alerting customers to this issue since September last year and have informed more than 60,000 photovoltaic system owners. Over the past month alone, we have managed to reduce the number of these customers by around 400," Gazdík said.

Pražská energetika (PRE) also has nearly 500 such sites in its distribution area. "We are repeatedly trying to contact these customers. PREdistribuce is sending them letters asking them to contact their electricity supplier, which will assume imbalance responsibility for the generation EAN code. We are also sending letters to our own customers as a supplier, asking them to sign the necessary contract or an amendment to their contract," spokesperson Karel Hanzelka said. PREdistribuce is not imposing penalties for now, Hanzelka said.

Owners of photovoltaic installations registered for electricity sharing also risk having sharing stopped if they have not arranged imbalance responsibility. According to the Electricity Data Centre, there were around 350 such households at the end of July. Without imbalance responsibility, these operators will be considered a source of unauthorised electricity supply and excluded from the sharing system, the centre said.