Energy bills for more than a million households that get their electricity or gas from some large suppliers will drop by thousands of crowns a year. In recent days, the companies have announced price reductions below the price cap set by the government at CZK 3 per kWh of gas and CZK 6 per kWh of electricity, including VAT. However, the regulated part and fixed monthly payments must be added to this price to get the final payment.
E.ON and Innogy are now offering their current customers lower prices for open-ended contracts. For E.ON, the lower gas and electricity prices will apply from February 15, and from March 1, it will also reduce customer costs on tariffs fixed for one year. The new prices will affect more than one million of the company’s customers, according to E.ON officials.
The new gas prices apply retroactively from February for Innogy, which did not change the price list but has promised to lower the cost by the end of the year. Open-ended contracts affect more than 300,000 customers.
Both E.ON and Innogy offer price lists for an indefinite period only for their existing customers, while new customers can only reach fixed tariffs for the time being. For Innogy, it is a one-year fixation, for which the company lowered prices below the ceiling at the end of January.
MND has sent a letter informing its customers that gas prices will be capped for the rest of this year but will be significantly reduced from January 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025. But yesterday, it announced a new price list under which electricity and gas are below the price cap, with one kWh of electricity costing CZK 5.93 and one kWh of gas costing CZK 2.72. New customers can get it now, while existing customers can get it starting April 1.
ČEZ currently has no change
ČEZ has again introduced fixed products for electricity and gas for two or three years. Under them, the price remains at the ceiling level this year and will gradually decrease only in the following years. According to the company, households that heat with gas will save 40 percent on gas prices in the third year of the fixation compared to the ceiling. CEZ will publish more details about these price lists in the next two weeks. Both existing customers and those who switch to the company can take advantage of CEZ’s fixed product.
ČEZ will update the price lists regularly throughout the year, and if wholesale prices fall, it will reflect this in the end prices, according to ČEZ Prodej chief Tomáš Kadlec. However, any changes will apply only to new contracts, not to those already concluded by customers.
The people affected by the price reduction do not have to change the advance payment amount themselves; the supplier will do it for them. For example, Innogy will send out new, lower deposit schedules in a few days.
“In the second half of February, we will start automatically adjusting customers’ reasonable prepayments. So, for example, in a situation where a customer has regular billing in March, the new deposit schedule will be adjusted after the regular billing is issued,” said David Konvalina, director of retail and marketing.
“This way, customers don’t have to do anything in terms of setting up their deposits, nor do they need to apply for a discount,” he added.
Thousand drop
Depending on consumption, people will save up to several thousand crowns a year with the new price lists compared to the capped prices. A family that uses gas for cooking and consumes 80 cubic meters a year can save several hundred crowns yearly.
But for example, a household that uses gas to cook and heat water with an annual consumption of 1800 cubic meters will pay a total of about 60,000 CZK per year with the E.ON Plyn Always I program.
However, despite the price drop in the new price lists, they are paying several times more than a few years ago.