Thermal power plants in some parts of the Czech Republic are already increasing heat prices because of dramatically rising energy costs, rising coal prices or their supplier has stopped supplying them with gas, and they now have to buy it at the current high prices.
Although many heating companies have not yet published their new price lists, they often plan to increase their prices. However, they still have time to calculate this before announcing new prices from the beginning of next year.
So far, the most significant price increase has come for about 3,000 households in Breclav, where prices at Teplo Breclav have risen almost fivefold since October, from CZK 628 per gigajoule (GJ) to CZK 3,030 per GJ.
However, it is not only Breclav that has problems. Heat prices in Vrbno pod Pradědem have risen 233 percent since October for 700 households, schools and kindergartens, and the municipal office building. Teplo Vrbno raised its advance payments after NWT unilaterally terminated its gas supply, and the new supplier is significantly more expensive. Moreover, it had to be found in a short time.
The price for the roughly 1,700 households that receive heat from Energie AG Kolín has roughly doubled since October due to gas prices. The increase applies to Český Brod, Dobříš, and Mníšek pod Brdy, where the company produces heat from natural gas.
As a result, the average price of heat this year will range from CZK 700 to CZK 1,500 per GJ, representing a 90% increase over the previous period. In Český Brod, Dobříš, and Mníšek pod Brdy, the price rose from CZK 970 per gigajoule, excluding VAT, in May to CZK 1,951.
In Jablonec, it is the third price increase this year
The inhabitants of Jablonec nad Nisou experienced the third price increase this year. The central heat supply system from Jablonec Energy is dependent on gas or local gas boilers. The price of heat increased this year in January, April, and most recently on 1 September.
The last price increase was the most noticeable, about CZK 1,200 per GJ, so people in Jablonec are now paying CZK 2,136.10/GJ.
In the Ústí nad Labem Region, the ČEZ Group supplies heat to about 90,000 households in the Ústí nad Labem, Teplice, and Chomutov regions. The heat became 13% more expensive in the summer. ČEZ Group plans to publish new price lists valid from the beginning of next year at the end of October.
The Trebovice heating plant, the most significant heat supplier in northern Moravia and Silesia, plans to raise prices in the new year. However, according to Kamil Vrbka, director of Veolia’s Moravia Region, it is not yet certain how much the heating plant will increase the price.
Plzeň will maintain prices
How much Teplárny Brno will raise prices will be known in the coming days, but the price list from last year is valid for now. At least until the end of the year, Liberec residents are not expected to see a price increase.
Central heat, which is supplied to a large part of the population and organizations in Žatec by Žatecká teplárenská, should not become significantly more expensive this year or next. If there is a price increase, it will be somewhere between 5% and 13%.
The municipal heating plant had earlier produced heat from wood chips and brown coal, which seems to be a good decision in the current situation. As the company’s sole shareholder, the city requires the heating plant to keep heat socially affordable.
On the other hand, there will be no increase in heat prices for next year in Pilsen. This was decided by Plzeňská teplárenská at the end of August. Pavel indelá (ODS), the outgoing mayor of Plze, confirmed this earlier.