Electric company sues Ministry of Economy

The government's fight against the climbing price of energy has brought constrainment on the increase of price and a first lawsuit. The Slovak Electric Company is suing the Ministry of Economy over its decision, forcing it to supply electricity to protected consumers for lower than the market rate. According to Trend's estimates, the decision will cause the company to lose 80 to 100 billion euros in revenue. At the beginning of July the Ministry obliged the SEC to allot at least 6 TWh for households and businesses, for the price set by the Department of Regulations of Net Sectors. 'Because of a request from the Department, we signed contracts to sell up to 5 TWh at the regulation price,' said SEC spokesperson Juraj Kopriva to TREND. According to Net Sectors spokesperson Miroslav Luptak the department said the fixed price for the supply of electricity to households was 60.28 euros per MWh and the price for small businesses at 79.17 euros per MWh. The SEC said that the rates were under the then-current market rate. (author)