Czech TV reported on Tues. that large companies can count on having regulated energy prices as of the New Year. If there isn’t an EU agreement, ČT said, the Czech government will impose caps. “Both Premier Petr Fiala and Industry Min. Jozef Síkela confirmed this today,” stated anchorman Martin Řezníček. Síkela said that he sees no reason not to set the caps at the same levels as for households. He said nothing about any limits or about how the reimbursement scheme for energy providers would work. No one knows what the spot prices of electricity and natural gas will be next year, but insiders are already working on the assumption that a cap for large companies could cost the state budget as much as Kč 700bn next year. Business owners who are putting off making hard decisions because they expect to get caps should be asking themselves the following question: How long will the Fiala government be willing to pay large companies tens of billions in monthly energy subsidies?

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