The Ministry of Finance appears to be dissatisfied with a recent Ministry of Industry proposal for changing the country's wholesale electricity-price structure (see yesterday's Czech Daily). The Finance Ministry believes that, while the status quo discriminates against CEZ, the proposed tariffs would discriminate against independent power producers (IPPs). The most controversial aspect of the proposed tariffs is a payment for so-called “system services”, the cost of which is borne by CEZ but not by the IPPs. The argument now is about what the payment for these services should be. It could happen that, if the two ministries do not reach an agreement, this tariff would not be determined until next year when a new regulatory body is set up. We currently expect CEZ's market share to remain unchanged next year, but a step in the direction proposed by the Ministry of Industry would make us increase our CEZ market-share projection.
(Ondřej Daťka)