At its meeting on 14 December 2022, the government decided to amend Regulation No.298/2022 Coll., on the determination of electricity and gas prices in an exceptional market situation, by extending its effect to large enterprises as well. So far, they have only been able to draw subsidies for the year 2022 under Call 1 of the Support Programme for the increased costs of natural gas and electricity due to the exceptionally abrupt increase in their prices. The amended regulation caps prices for the year 2023. The deadline for small, medium and large enterprises to submit a declaration that will still be taken into account in the January billing, is 15 January 2023.

The conditions for support are the same for large enterprises as they are for small and medium-sized enterprises. It is envisaged to cap prices at 80% of the highest monthly value of electricity and gas consumption calculated over the last five years. Specifically, the period from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2022 is used for the calculation, from which the month with the highest consumption is assigned to each month in 2023 with the same name. If no data from previous years are available, current consumption values are used.

In order to receive support in the form of reduced energy prices, it is necessary to deliver a declaration to your energy supplier, and models of these declarations are listed separately for each category in the annexes to the regulation. In addition to the declaration, in cases where the customer uses gas to generate electricity, so-called statements are also provided, which are also part of the annexes of the regulation.

The declaration must be provided no later than the end of the calendar month preceding the month for which the electricity supply price is to be applied, while the regulation extends the deadline by a transitional provision to ensure that prices will be capped from January to 15 January 2023. For example, if you know that you belong to the large enterprise category and want to take advantage of capped energy prices, you will provide your electricity trader with a completed customer declaration according the template in Annex 7 of the regulation and your gas trader according the template in Annex 8. Please note that 15 January falls on a Sunday, so we recommend not to leave it to the last minute.

If the customer ceases to meet the conditions declared in the declaration or if there is a change in the declared facts, the customer shall immediately notify the energy trader of such fact.

Statements relating to production of electricity from gas must then be delivered no later than the seventh day of the calendar month following the month, for which the gas supply price is to be applied.

These declarations, notifications or statements shall be delivered by the customer to the trader via an electronic system. If the trader does not operate an electronic system, the customer shall provide the specified information by means of a data mailbox or in the form of a data message signed with at least a recognised electronic signature and provided to an electronic contact, which the electricity or gas trader shall establish and publish on its website. Otherwise, the declaration shall be delivered in paper form to the address of the registered office of the electricity or gas trader or to the address for service.

Energy price caps can be combined with subsidy assistance under the Temporary Crisis Framework. But the total state aid for the period of 1 February 2022 to 31 December 2023 for one enterprise must not exceed EUR 4m, i.e. approximately CZK 100m. There will also be financial limits for linked and partner enterprises. However, it should be noted that legislative developments in the energy sector have been extremely dynamic this year and more specific parameters of support will be further specified by government regulations coming from January 2023.

If you need more detailed information, you can contact our GT Legal team at any time.

Author: Veronika Odrobinová, Olga Králíčková