Starting from January, Czech households have experienced a hike in the cost of electricity and heating. Those with contracts with a fixed price or who had signed an indefinite-term contract with the supplier last year at a favorable price are likely to feel the pinch. The increasing costs are due to a price hike in distribution and the return of payments for renewable sources amounting to 600 CZK per consumed megawatt-hour, leading to a price increase of approximately 1.30 CZK per kWh.
A typical household with average consumption will likely pay up to four thousand koruna more. However, those who did not negotiate the price last year and stayed with the largest supplier, ČEZ, with an indefinite contract, where the entire year’s electricity was high, at the government cap of six CZK with VAT per kWh, paid a total of 8.17 CZK with the regulated part at the most common rate. From January, the company has reduced the price of bulk electricity, and the total payment will now be 8.12 CZK.
At MND, with a fixed term until the summer of 2025, people have been paying 6.71 CZK per kWh since August, but from January, the price will be 7.92 CZK. In addition, the payment for circuit breakers is increasing. For example, for a 3×25 A circuit breaker, it was 198 CZK per month last year, and from January, the amount will increase by 50 koruna per month, i.e., 600 koruna per year.
Some gas consumers will also have to pay more. Those with a contract with ČEZ with a government cap of 3 CZK per kWh with tax and only cook on gas previously produced at a typical consumption with a regulated component of 3.58 CZK per kWh. From January, it is 2.96 CZK.
However, almost half of the households connected to central heating will have to pay more for heat. Coal-fired power plants are increasing prices by up to thirty percent, according to Martin Hájek, the head of the Heating Association. For households, this means up to a hundred koruna more per month.