The government has introduced a new cap on natural gas prices in district heating systems for users such as schools and community health centres in what is yet another in a long series of price caps that have become the government’s go-to tool to fight high energy prices.
Retroactively effective from 1 January, the maximum price for such users has been set at €79 per Megawatt-hours (MWh). Households getting heat from gas-powered district heating systems will pay no more than €73 per MWh in line with a government decree adopted on Wednesday.
The financial implications of these measures will depend mainly on this year’s temperatures.
“If the year turns out to be warm and the first half of January suggests this, the financial impact will be lower. But if temperatures are low, we’ll be in line with the worst-case scenario estimates,” said Environment, Climate and Energy Minister Bojan Kumer.
This is the latest in a long line of recent price caps for petrol, electricity and natural gas for a wide variety of users, and it comes after spontaneous protests cropped up in several cities when people started getting their first heating bills of the year.
Businesses are notably absent from the decree but are entitled to subsidies rather than capped prices.
Due to all these price caps, the ministry is now preparing the legal basis for reimbursing gas, heat and electricity suppliers for the difference between the capped price they have to sell and the price they buy. Changes to this regulation should be ready within a week or two, Kumer said.
(Sebastijan R. Maček | sta.si)
Source: euractiv.com
