Hundreds of thousands of Czech households and entrepreneurs will pay more than the price ceiling for energy from January 1 next year. The Energy Regulatory Office (ERÚ) found this out. According to him, not only suppliers should be active now, but mainly customers. According to the economist, we all pay high prices for energy.
Up to 4.2 percent of customers have fixed prices above the government ceiling. Overall, out of 8.94 million in the Czech Republic, there are 367,000 collection points, ERO reported in a press release.
“The majority of suppliers have already approached or in the foreseeable future are planning to approach their customers whose prices are fixed above the price ceilings with a lower offer. This should concern approximately three hundred thousand collection points. Here, however, it is also necessary to appeal to consumers to respond in time to suppliers’ offers, which are usually limited in time. These are changes to the terms and conditions that the customer must actively agree to. At the same time, it follows from the experience of suppliers that some customers do not respond to offers. They are either waiting or they are out of contact,” pointed out the Chairman of the ERO Council, Stanislav Trávníček.
The ERO advises consumers on how to buy energy
12. 9. 2023
Only a very small part of suppliers is not considering reducing fixed contracts. Some are prevented from doing so, for example, by contracts with intermediaries that prohibit them from approaching customers directly. The conditions of competitions on the stock exchange and the fear of breaching the duty to act with the care of a proper householder can also be an obstacle.
The group of suppliers who were still waiting in September to see if the government would not introduce additional price ceilings is specific. Only then did they want to approach clients.
“For consumers whose price is fixed above the price ceilings and the supplier has not yet contacted them, we strongly recommend that you contact him yourself as soon as possible. Thanks to an active approach, they can get a lower price with the current supplier, or switch to a new supplier in time, even if it means paying a penalty for early termination of the contract. The differences in the prices offered are now so significant that the penalty will compensate in some cases. But what is needed is good calculation and action,” urged ERÚ Council member Markéta Zemanová.
According to economist Petr Bartoná, we all pay a price above the ceiling for energy. “The key to understanding is that the household with the price tag of 8,000 for electricity (and the same applies for gas) does not actually pay 8,000. It pays 6,000. And everything above that is paid for by other households from their taxes. The state until the end of the year he set the ceiling at six thousand, and anything above that ceiling he pays the suppliers, instead of the household,” he explained in his newsletter.
I would be careful with long-term energy fixation, says the expert. Prices will go down (10/2023):
TN.cz
2023-10-14 04:00:00
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