CEZ holds a press conference today on its 2003 commercial policy; the conference begins at 11 a.m. CET.
Customers with annual electricity consumption exceeding 40 GWh (including the regional distributors) have had choice of supplier beginning in 2002, and those with consumption exceeding 9 GWh (approx. 40% of the total market) will have such choice beginning in 2003. While there is now a threat that current CEZ customers (mainly the regional distributors, and most of them have already begun tenders for 2003 supplies) may switch to other suppliers, the second market-liberalization step actually brings an opportunity for CEZ, since it will gain direct access to "9 GWh" customers.
CEZ now says that its flood damages will far exceed CZK 1 bil. (Lidove noviny reports). 1 bil. figure had been the upper limit of our damage estimate. The damage was mainly to CEZ’s hydropower plants. While the information is negative, we do not expect the stock to react.
Jiri Soustruznik