AMO SR monitors situation in the area of electricity supply and cooperates with URSO
During recent period, the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic (hereafter "the Office") has been observing the development of situation on energy markets more intensively and monitoring the behaviour of market participants (primarily suppliers and consumers of energy) in the territory of the Slovak Republic.
Since the beginning of 2023, the media and the Regulatory Office for Network Industries (hereafter "URSO") has been regularly publishing information regarding, among other things, the development of wholesale electricity prices and related business and price conditions, under which it comes to the retail sale/the supply of electricity (commodity) to end customers in the territory of the Slovak Republic. URSO, within its competences, has taken certain steps in the affected area, grounded, for example, in the survey of price lists of electricity suppliers, the comparison of price lists with developments on the wholesale electricity market and the request for detailed data on the costs and prices of the largest electricity suppliers operating in the territory of the Slovak Republic. In this context, URSO uses its competence enabling it to observe the electricity market, the degree of its openness, the level of its transparency, the evaluation of level of competition achieved on the electricity market and the evaluation of prerequisites for an extraordinary regulation. After the evaluation of data submitted, URSO can take further steps, not only in the area of price regulation of electricity supply for vulnerable consumers, but also in the possible use of sanctioning mechanisms, and the current URSO´s activity can, in justified cases, also have a fundamental impact on the performance of ongoing crisis regulation and the method of calculating compensations in support schemes managed by the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic.
The Office positively assesses the steps aimed at contributing to the protection of interests of individual groups of affected end customers. The Office supports the activities carried out by URSO, whereas the cooperation between both offices concerns the given issue and it has currently resulted in the launch of a survey by the Office in accordance with the Article 16 Paragraph 1 Letter a) of the Act on Protection of Competition for the purpose of obtaining information on the state of competition in the given sector, as URSO identified certain problems on the market within the framework of its activities. With regard to the falling prices of electricity on the wholesale market, the Office appeals to customers with high prices for the supply of electricity to, in their own interest, take an active interest in the offers of competing electricity suppliers operating in the territory of the Slovak Republic in order to reduce their energy costs.