Fiala did not brag about that. Expensive utility bill. Czechs paid the most

Prime Minister Petr Fiala has not had time to boast to the public about the Czech Republic. In the second half of last year, the price of electricity for households in the Czech Republic was the highest of all member countries in the European Union, if we take into account the different purchasing power in individual states. Converted to an artificially created unit of PPS (Purchasing Power Standard) it was electricity on average the most expensive in the Czech Republic, in Cyprus, Germany and Italy. Surprisingly, this information was not published by the forces that claim a pro-Russian orientation, are close to extreme positions and are against the interests of the Czech Republic, as the chairman of the ODS, Petr Fiala, likes to reflect the inconvenient facts to him. Its author is Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. It is evident from his data that the Czech Republic is more than a third above the EU average in this indicator.

The statement sounds very prophetic, which in 2020 Ivan Noveský said in an interview for ParlamentníListy.cz: “With the decommissioning of coal and nuclear power plants in Germany and its replacement by the Energiewende, there will be ever greater pressure on the price of power electricity.” The price of power energy for the Czech Republic is not created in the Czech Republic, but on the German stock exchange. If Germany fails to quickly replace electricity production failures with, for example, electricity from French nuclear power plants or its own natural gas sources, we can expect a sharp increase in electricity prices not only in Germany, but throughout Europe. The problem not only for Czech consumers, but also, for example, for Polish ones, is that in Germany there is a completely different purchasing power, and therefore a higher price on the stock exchange, which will throw our consumers into energy poverty, is still acceptable for Germans without problems… “

Energy security of the Czech Republic in danger

The founder of the Energy Regulatory Office and in the years 2016 to 2017 also its vice-chairman sees the near future bleakly. “The regulated price of electricity, and therefore the total price of electricity in the Czech Republic, will continue to increase because they are preparing and making senseless and unnecessary new networks, not because of community energy, but because of the black deal, officially called the Green Deal. In reality, it is about shutting down cheap, ecological and stable (coal) sources and building subsidized occasional non-environmental large sources and building fast charging stations and the like. These anti-economic and anti-ecological black deal measures, in addition to the one-off costs of ten to one hundred billion in investments in networks, data centers and the like, will subsequently require additional tens of billions for system services every year,” states Ivan Noveský for ParlamentníListy.cz.

All this will increasingly be reflected in the final electricity prices. “The shutdown of stable sources – power plants – significantly threatens the energy security of the Czech Republic, which is already disturbed by the non-use of cheap natural gas supplies from Slovakia and dependence on overpriced gas supplies from Germany. It is necessary to realize that the Czech Republic has been a long-standing exporter of electricity. We export more than ten Terawatt-hours every year, and in 2023 alone, exports dropped to 9.1 Twh. At the same time, all the surrounding states except Slovakia are importers of electricity,” points out Ivan Noveský. Last year, Poland imported 3.9 TWh, Germany 8.6 TWh, Austria 1.7 TWh, Hungary 11.2 Twh. To put it in perspective, one Terawatt hour equals one billion kilowatt hours.

We will continue to pay insane utility bills

The director of the analytical and consulting company Next Finance also commented on the results published by Eurostat Markéta Šichtařová. “We have a connected transmission system with Germany, which in Europe is literally bursting with the irresponsible abandonment of fossil fuels and the equally irresponsible transition to renewable sources. So we are facing similar problems as Germany. But with one difference: in Germany, energy is significantly more subsidized than here. We don’t have the money for that. So then we have this infamous first. Did the politicians want a Green Deal? They wanted to. So they got what they wanted. But they forgot to tell the voters that the absurdly expensive energy is the downside of their experimentation with renewable sources. So I’m telling them now and here: until we stop the Green Deal and come back to our senses in the energy sector, we will continue to pay crazy energy bills,” said economist Markéta Šichtařová for ParlamentníListy.cz.

After last year’s dramatic increase in the price of electricity, which catapulted the Czech Republic to the top of the price list among EU member countries, further sharp increases in its price are not expected. However, no visible drop to previous prices is expected. “The only reasonable option for energy prices and price reduction – stopping inflation and recession – is to start applying valid Czech laws, which are also compatible with the legislation of the European Union (Article 5 of Directive 2019/944). And according to the valid Czech Act No. 526/1990 Coll., Act on Prices, the final price for household electricity, including thief CO2 allowances, cannot by any chance exceed 4 CZK/kWh including all taxes and fees and without CO2 allowances, a maximum of 3 CZK /kWh as the final price of Czech electricity for Czech households,” says Ivan Noveský, chairman of the Institute for Energy.

There is no reason for thieving electricity prices

At the same time, it reminds us of how the energy sector has been in the Czech Republic in recent decades. “At the end of 1996, already after all the price increases and property changes, household electricity cost 1.07 CZK/kWh! And since then, practically no large energy facilities have been built, power plants and waterworks were built before 1989. After that, only the Temelín nuclear power plant and the pumped hydroelectric power plant in Dlouhé Strán were completed, and one block of the coal-fired power plant was built in Ledvice. Therefore, there is no single reason – apart from ‘unfed’ and irresponsible politicians associated with white collars – for the thieving electricity prices, which today are destroying households, industry, agriculture, and therefore the entire economy of the Czech Republic,” says energy expert Ivan indignantly to ParlamentníListy.cz Novesky.

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