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Electricity prices continue to rise, this time with the largest Czech electricity distributor ČEZ. However, according to experts, over time it will affect all electricity suppliers. Moreover, this should not be the last wave of price increases. And gas will also rise in price.
One of the largest energy suppliers in the Czech Republic, ČEZ has announced that customers will pay extra for energy from July 1. Households with a contract of indefinite duration will see the price of gas increase by more than 80 percent. Electricity prices will increase only for new customers, for regular ones it does not change.
However, the situation is worse for gas supplies. While electricity fees will only increase for new clients, everyone will pay extra for gas. The main reason is mainly uncertainty about future natural gas supplies to the Czech Republic.
This is not the first time in recent times that ČEZ has taken this step. This is the third price increase in the last six months.
As for electricity, its price most often rises in the fall and then at the beginning of the new year. But now it is different. Wholesale energy prices are rising rapidly, and suppliers are responding by raising prices.
“For some suppliers, we see that they rise in price every two months. In most cases, it was enough to adjust prices once a year, twice at most. Now it can easily be five times a year,” said economist Lukáš Kovanda.
According to him, the frequency of price increases is unprecedented. He blames the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which has plagued the situation on the wholesale market. It is said that customers will also have to increase their down payment when paying for electricity, starting in the second half of the year.
In addition to CEZ, other energy distributors should start to rise in price soon. “The price on the stock exchange is rising, so no one will avoid it,” said energy expert Jiří Beranovský. “If ČEZ becomes more expensive, everyone will eventually become more expensive,” Kovanda added.
He further estimates that other distributors could wait with an increase in prices to take some of the clients from the largest Czech energy distributor.
“When they attract some clients, they will increase those prices. No one can escape those prices, if not even ČEZ, which has the greatest opportunity to do so, because it not only sells electricity, but also produces it itself,” Kovanda said.
Pražská plynárenská even stopped recruiting new customers altogether.
This fact is said to indicate that all energy suppliers will eventually resort to a sharp rise in prices.
Together with this year and next, they could allegedly rise in price by tens to hundreds of percent.
Rising prices have the worst impact on single pensioners and parents:
TN.cz
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