Fair Play for Electricity and Gas Customers: How Will Lex OZE III Protect Every Customer?

The amendment to the Energy Act known as Lex OZE III fundamentally changes the household energy supply landscape in favour of customers. Above all, the amendment limits suppliers’ ability to use unfair practices. What exactly does the law change?

Few amendments to the Energy Act have attracted as much attention as Lex OZE III. The spotlight was drawn mainly by individual inspections of operators of solar power plants. However, the law’s original purpose was entirely different – in addition to introducing storage and flexibility, it was intended to bring fundamental changes to the retail electricity and gas market.

From 1 August 2025, electricity and gas suppliers will have to be more transparent, will not be able to impose disproportionate penalties, and will also be required to provide information to the Energy Regulatory Office for electricity price comparisons.

Terminating a fixed-price product? Clear conditions now apply

The main change in the retail market is the setting of a cap on penalties that an electricity or gas supplier may charge its customer for early termination of fixed-price contracts. Until now, no cap on penalties had been set. Some suppliers exploited the absence of a limit and charged customers high penalties for early contract termination. In extreme cases, these penalties could amount to tens of thousands of Czech crowns.

Setting the cap was accompanied by extensive debate. On the one hand, the aim was to limit penalties as much as possible so that customers would pay as little as possible; on the other hand, electricity and gas suppliers have a legitimate interest. Put simply, when entering into a fixed-price contract, they purchase the commodity on the market for their customers with fixed-price products. If the customer subsequently terminates the fixed-price contract, the supplier has to use the electricity already purchased in another way, for example by reselling it on the wholesale market. If the electricity price has fallen between the time of purchase and sale, the supplier has made a loss on the contract. The penalty for early termination is intended to cover precisely this loss.

Supplier offers from 2025-05-16

Once Lex OZE III takes effect, a penalty may be agreed at no more than 40 % of the remaining value of the contract. This value is determined as the average consumption calculated until the end of the contract term multiplied by the electricity price under that contract. Put simply, if a customer wants to terminate a fixed-price contract, they must be prepared to pay up to 40 % of what they would have paid had they not terminated the contract.

Another positive change for consumers is linked to terminating a fixed-price contract: the supplier can no longer demand compensation from the customer for damage caused by the termination. Some suppliers had previously sought damages in an effort to retain their customers, and in some cases such claims rose to tens of thousands of Czech crowns. As the Energy Regulatory Office noted previously, one supplier even claimed up to CZK 150,000.

Easier complaints about energy supply bills

The amendment also introduces changes in the handling of complaints and penalties for suppliers that resolve them late. Suppliers will have to settle every billing complaint no later than 15 days after it is received.

To give suppliers an incentive to resolve complaints on time, Lex OZE III introduces penalties into the Energy Act for late complaint handling. If a supplier does not settle a complaint within the statutory time limit, it must pay the consumer a penalty of CZK 50 for each day of delay. This penalty is calculated from the 31st day of delay and may reach a maximum of CZK 5,000. In addition, the consumer is entitled to compensation for any damage incurred, regardless of the penalty paid or any contractual penalty.

Fixed-price electricity “for everyone”

During the energy crisis, the most vulnerable customers were those without a fixed electricity or gas price. It was these customers whose supply prices suppliers could increase to cover the cost of purchasing the commodity on wholesale markets.

Supplier offers from 2025-05-16

Lex OZE III also responds to this reality. Every customer should now have the right to enter into a contract with a fixed price for at least one year. To this end, suppliers with more than 200,000 supply points are required to offer fixed-price contracts for at least one year. Similarly, customers may request a contract with a spot tariff if they have interval metering.

The obligation will now apply to a total of five electricity suppliers: ČEZ Prodej, E.ON Energie, PRE, innogy and Centropol.

Suppliers must not restrict the right to share electricity and provide flexibility

Electricity sharing and flexibility are new concepts in the Czech energy sector. For these concepts to genuinely develop in practice, they must face minimal obstacles. Lex OZE III seeks to remove such potential obstacles at the supplier level.

Suppliers may no longer restrict customers’ right to share electricity or make entering into a contract conditional on a ban on sharing. Likewise, they may not set disadvantageous pricing terms for customers who decide to share electricity.

The amendment also protects customers’ rights when providing flexibility through aggregators. Suppliers cannot prevent customers from entering into contracts with aggregators or penalise them for doing so through worse pricing terms.

New requirements for publishing price lists and contractual terms

The amendment significantly strengthens transparency requirements for energy suppliers. Suppliers must now publish all contractual documentation containing the terms of contracts concluded with customers.

Moreover, this information must be available throughout the provision of services, and in the event of changes, the updated wording must be published before those changes take effect. Every customer should therefore be able to find the contractual terms of their contract online on the supplier’s website.

An important new feature is that suppliers may not make access to price lists and contractual terms conditional on providing personal data or expressing interest in a specific product. In practice, this means the end of the practice used by some suppliers of making their price lists available only after a contact form has been completed.

Suppliers must provide more information to the Energy Regulatory Office

Lex OZE III also significantly expands the information obligations of licence holders towards the Energy Regulatory Office (ERÚ). The regulator recently launched its own electricity and gas price comparison tool, which – like any other comparison tool – depends on the availability of up-to-date price lists from active energy suppliers.

From 1 August, energy suppliers therefore have a specific obligation to provide the ERÚ with up-to-date information on their electricity supply offers, which will be compared in the ERÚ’s comparison tool.

Lex OZE III introduces an obligation to regularly submit data needed not only for quarterly and annual reports on the operation of energy systems, but now also detailed information for monitoring the competitive environment in the retail electricity and gas market. The ERÚ will thus gain an overview of retail energy price levels as well as the specific contractual terms that suppliers offer to customers.

Comparison tools may use suppliers’ price lists

The amendment strengthens market transparency by allowing third parties to freely use published information on energy suppliers’ products and prices. This information may be used to create independent comparisons and assessments of products and services on the energy market.

Try the oEnergetice.cz comparison tool.

In practice, this means that operators of price comparison tools and consumer organisations can better analyse offers from different suppliers and provide customers with useful overviews to support informed decisions when choosing an energy supplier.