An amendment to the Energy Act could change the conditions for supporting solar and hydropower plants

The amendment to the Energy Act, which was discussed today by the Chamber of Deputies, will apparently allow the state to reduce the amount that the state pays from the budget to support renewable energy sources. The amendment, which responds to the government’s intention, was proposed to be inserted into the amendment by ODS deputy and chairman of the parliamentary economic committee Ivan Adamec. But the MPs did not finish today’s second reading. It is not yet certain when he will return to him. Deputies can present their proposals for amendments in it.

On Wednesday, Minister of Finance Zbyněk Stanjura (ODS) spoke about the intention to reduce the state’s costs for renewable resources. The government wants to more accurately and individually evaluate the profitability of the operation of solar power plants, especially those put into operation in 2009 and 2010. Only on the basis of that evaluation will it provide subsidies. Next year, as well as this year, the state wants to allocate 8.5 billion crowns to renewable resources.

The amendment to the Energy Act, dubbed Lex OZE III, regulates the rules for storing electricity as well as pooling its production and consumption. Deputies included dozens of amendments to this government amendment, which is supposed to enable accumulation and aggregation. They put most of them into the House system on Wednesday and today. The economic committee alone supported about 35 proposals. In 2015, about 350 amendments were submitted to the amendment of this law.

The Act on Subsidized Energy Sources still stipulates that electricity support is adequate if the internal return percentage of investments for the duration of the right to support, simply the profitability of the investment, does not exceed values ​​in the range of 8.4 to 10.6 percent. Above this value, the support is already disproportionate. The government has now proposed, through MP Adamec, that the internal revenue percentage depends on the type of energy source and the period of its commissioning.

For example, for a hydroelectric power plant put into operation between 2013 and 2015, the revenue percentage should be 5.7 percent, for solar power plants put into operation in this period, it should be 3.6 percent. For renewable sources put into operation between 2006 and 2012, the government will set the internal revenue percentage by regulation according to the values ​​in the annex to the law. For example, a range of 6.3 to 8.4 percent will apply to solar power plants. Another of Adamc’s proposals helps to identify energy sources that are overcompensated. It leaves them the right to support only up to such an amount that they are not overcompensated. According to his explanatory statement, the proposal should not be retroactive.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and former Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček (ANO) warned against these proposals and that, according to him, this process would endanger trust in the state. He warned that the conditions are changing on the fly and that operators who finance their projects through banks will not be able to repay.

The Economic Committee recommended inserting into the law, for example, a measure that regulates the premature departure of a consumer from an electricity or gas supplier in the case of a fixed-term contract. In such a case, the consumer should pay 40 percent of the amount that he would have otherwise paid during the contract until the end. Nevertheless, the consumer should have the right to have the court reduce the contractual penalty according to the provisions of the Civil Code.

Another measure recommended by the committee is that the state could, if necessary, order energy companies to operate the resources needed to ensure the security of electricity supplies. This could apply, for example, to coal-fired power plants in the event that their premature shutdown would jeopardize electricity supplies. The committee also recommended maintaining five seats in the Council of the Energy Regulatory Office, which, according to the original proposal, was supposed to have only three members.