After the end of Bohemia Energy (BE) and other energy suppliers on the Czech market, people automatically fell into the distribution network of one of the five companies. For electricity, these are ČEZ, E.ON and PRE, for gas again E.ON, Innogy and Pražská plynárenská.
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However, about 200,000 DPI clients who fell under E.ON are at an advantage. At least for now. The company buys energy on the market on a spot basis, ie on a daily basis, while ČEZ, PRE or Pražská plynárenská buy the volume of energy for the month ahead. However, the disadvantage for the E.ON customer may be that he does not know in advance the exact amount he will pay on the advances in the following month.
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“We decided to buy energy on the daily market because we think it is the fairest way. We have also published a formula for how we calculate the price for clients. But the models we have on the web are more understandable to customers and we update them every week so that clients have a better idea of how much they will pay for energy in DPI mode, “a spokeswoman for E.ON told the News. Martina Slavíková.
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The company’s bet on the daily purchase came out in October. People paid 3994 crowns without VAT for electricity in the current tariff D02d, which was almost 800 crowns less than the price list at ČEZ (CZK 4727) and PRE (CZK 4763). It was similar for gas. E.ON’s clients using gas only for cooking paid CZK 2,651 without VAT for 1 MWh, while those at Innogy paid CZK 3,310 and Pražská plynárenská CZK 3,325.
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ERO: Next month may not be beneficial
But whether E.ON’s strategy will be more successful in the coming months than the forward purchasing strategy is unpredictable. “Which method is more advantageous cannot be determined in advance, nor can it be said that the more advantageous method for one month will be better in the next month as well,” Michal Kebort, spokesman for the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO), told the News.
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When asked by Novinek, ČEZ replied that it did not want to speculate on the market and preferred to choose a proven strategy in the form of forward purchasing. “Yes, the price of the spot finally fell a month ahead of the product in October. This was due to the storm, which unexpectedly helped production from renewable sources, and for the beginning of November also to political statements about increasing gas supplies to Europe, which, however, did not materialize. But the price could have risen in exactly the same way, “said company spokesman Roman Gazdík.
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Like ČEZ, Pražská plynárenská sees this, for example. “Our price (for November) 2890 CZK / MWh is fixed by buying in advance, when we tried to minimize the impact of the growth of spot prices on the customer. Currently, it is possible that the DPI price will be reduced for the rest of November, although the spot price is rising slightly, “spokesman Miroslav Vránek told the News.
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And why don’t all vendors buy DPI clients the same way? The specific regulation is not enshrined in Czech law. “The purchasing strategy is not precisely defined by factual regulation, and if it is not given by law, the ERO cannot amend the strategy,” said Kebort.
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At the same time, he emphasized that the Office regularly checks the price setting methodology of individual DPIs. “It urges its adjustments so that prices are within legal limits, which say that the price of DPI may only take into account eligible costs and reasonable profit,” Kebort added, adding that the profit is a margin of up to five percent.
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However, according to ENAS Energy Services analyst Vladimír Štěpán, assessing what the eligible costs are is problematic. According to him, the ERO does not regulate prices sufficiently. “DPI can buy gas on the stock exchange at any price, and demand it from the customer. When DPI buys badly, its prices differ by a thousand crowns per MWh from the price of another supplier who buys better. It is then a question of how the ERO will assess it, when it is obliged to assess the materially justified costs, “Štěpán told Novinkám.
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In Slovakia, prices are capped
They also dealt with the end of a large supplier on the energy market in Slovakia. At the end of September, Slovak Energy, a subsidiary of Bohemia Energy, ceased operations there with 300,000 clients. However, they did not have to solve problems with high backups in DPI mode. The local law regulates the setting of prices.
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“In Slovakia, prices for the population are regulated, the maximum price at which traders can supply gas is set. The price is set as the average of the last months. This cuts off the peaks that appear when buying gas on the stock exchange, “Štěpán explained.
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The analyst is also taken aback by the fact that suppliers buy gas for customers at DPI a month in advance, although they do not know how quickly Bohemia Energy’s customers will leave them. “There are more such questions. Innogy has a Hungarian owner and a long-term contract. Nothing should prevent the purchase of gas at better prices. It is published that Gazprom supplied tens of percent more gas to Germany, Italy and Poland. But nothing about the Czech Republic, “he added.
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