According to Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela (for STAN), ministers have prepared a package of measures to address energy prices. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) will present details of the individual measures in the coming days and weeks.
However, Síkela did not publish a list of all the measures. He emphasized that the planned assistance would be targeted rather than a blanket. The first and most important measure of the new package, according to Síkela, is a 10% increase in the minimum subsistence beginning on April 1.
The state also plans to compensate companies in energy-intensive sectors for indirect costs. Síkela said the European Commission approved the program the week before, but now it is expanding the list of industries that could benefit from the aid.
Companies with energy costs that exceed 10% of total operating expenses will be eligible for a state guarantee of up to 80% of the principal on a loan of one to ten million crowns.
The MIT is also working on using the new public aid framework adopted last week by the European Commission for companies hit by anti-Russian sanctions. They should be able to receive up to 400,000 euros (about ten million crowns).
More encouragement for self-generation of electricity
“We will simplify and speed up the permitting procedure for renewable energy sources, led by photovoltaics,” Síkela further said. “At the same time, we have tens of billions of crowns more ready to support the development of renewable energy sources so that individuals can generate as much electricity as possible themselves,” he added.
He also recalled the subsidy call under the National Renewal Plan to support photovoltaic systems, in which four billion crowns have been allocated, while the MIT is now registering applications for around two billion.
“We have already sent several letters with proposals and demands for solutions to the enormous rise in energy prices. But we are still waiting for a solution. At the tripartite meeting, the MIT promised to resolve the compensation of indirect costs, including a broader definition of the sectors affected by the aid,” Bohuslav Čížek, director of the Economic Policy Section of the Confederation of Industry, said yesterday.