Slovak households do not need to worry about a rapid upsurge in electricity prices next year. Power utility Slovenske Elektrarne clearly confirmed to SITA newswire that it would supply baseload, representing roughly half of the final power price, to households at a capped price also next year.
“Slovenske Elektrarne will certainly supply electricity for households under favorable conditions also in 2025,” spokesperson for the power producer Olga Bakova told SITA. However, bureaucratic steps need to be completed first. “Currently, the implementation steps of the delivery are being finalized,” she said.
Slovakia’s dominant power producer has been supplying baseload for Slovak households at a guaranteed price of some 61 euros per MWh for the second year in a row. Amid the peaking energy crisis, this was an unprecedented price thanks to which households did not need to worry about an extreme increase in power prices.
The government, too, had to deliver on its promise in the memorandum to ensure baseload delivery at a fixed price. During the period of baseload delivery at a fixed price, the government must not impose any special tax on Slovenske Elektrarne that would more or less affect only the power producer.
This is probably one of the reasons why an increase in the special levy paid by energy companies was dropped from the consolidation package which is intended to fix the state budget issues.
The capped price for baseload delivery also required a fresh nod from the European Commission because the energy crisis circumstances, under which the Commission approved this assistance, have changed substantially. The talks with the European Commission were confirmed by Economy Minister Denisa Sakova.
“We are negotiating with the European Commission to be able to continue to apply this,” she said in the spring. The minister added at that time that the government would like to preserve the guaranteed baseload price until 2027.
The government wants to help Slovak households with energy costs. According to Prime Minister Robert Fico, the Cabinet will do its utmost so that Slovak households will not feel energy price growth. For the time being, the shape of compensation is not known.
The premier ruled out neither targeted assistance nor helicopter money. In his words, targeted aid is very complex as it is hard to define who in Slovakia is rich.