Monitoring of Energy Legislation July 2024

See the most important news in the field of Slovak energy legislation for the month of July 2024.

RONI has initiated comment procedures on preliminary information regarding changes of fundamental energy regulations. The date of completion of the reminder proceedings was 14 August 2024.

Envirofond announced a new call for the heating industry (MoF - 2/2024 call). Other calls were also launched, such as a call to support quickly implementable energy measures to reduce consumption or a call to support the construction of a pilot hydrogen infrastructure for road transport.

We also draw your attention to the change of the SEPS technical conditions and the ongoing public consultations on changes of the VSD operating rules and the SEPS operating rules.

You can read more about these and many other interesting news in our monitoring for the month of July 2024, which you can also download in PDF format.

We wish you a pleasant reading!

1.          WHAT HAS CHANGED?

Note: In our monitoring of energy legislation, we monitor for you the changes to the above-mentioned legal regulations, which were published in the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic last month.

From the beginning of the month of July 2024 (or by the end of 30 June 2024), the following regulations were annulled and lost their effectiveness:

• RONI Decree no. 2/2013 Coll., establishing procedures and measures regarding data storage, form and content of stored data,
• RONI Decree no. 3/2013 Coll., establishing the method, scope and structure of providing measured data on consumption at the take-off point of the electricity consumer and their storage,
• RONI Decree no. 4/2013 Coll., establishing the method, scope and structure of providing measured data on consumption at the off-take point of the gas customer and their storage,
• RONI Decree no. 283/2010 Coll., establishing the range of economically justified costs caused by disconnection of the consumer from the supplier's heating facilities system and the method of their calculation.

Due to their annulment, we will no longer monitor the above-mentioned regulations in our monitoring.

2.          YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED

■     RONI published preliminary information on the RONI decree amending the Price Decree in the electric energy industry

On 1 August 2024, a comment procedure was initiated on the preliminary information on the draft decree of the Regulatory Office for Network Industries (hereinafter referred to as "RONI"), which amends and supplements the RONI decree no. 154/2024 Coll., establishing price regulation in the electric power industry and some conditions for the performance of regulated activities in the electric energy industry (hereinafter referred to as the "Price decree in the electric energy industry"), under legislative process number: PI/2024/183.

The purpose of the submitted draft is to amend and supplement some provisions of the Price decree in the electric energy industry, namely:

• the method of calculating the exceeding of the reserved capacity and the maximum reserved capacity,
• the method of regulating the price regulation of non-frequency auxiliary services,
• the method of regulating the price regulation of the supply of reactive electricity,
• method of regulating the price regulation for island facilities.

The end date of the comment procedure was set for 14 August 2024, and the expected start date of the interdepartmental comment procedure is October 2024.

The legislative process is currently in the comment stage. Its current status can be followed at this link.

■     Preliminary information on the RONI decree amending the Price decree in the gas industry

On 1 August 2024, RONI initiated a comment procedure on the preliminary information on the draft decree which amends and supplements RONI decree no. 147/2024 Coll., establishing price regulation of regulated activities in the gas industry and some conditions for the performance of regulated activities in the gas industry (hereinafter referred to as the "Price decree in the gas industry"). The number of this legislative process is PI/2024/184.

The purpose of the submitted draft is to amend and supplement some provisions of the Price decree in the gas industry, namely:

• the extent of price regulation in the gas industry,
• method of implementing price regulation of access to the storage tank and gas storage,
• details on the calculation of the price for access to the storage tank and gas storage, the method of submitting the price proposal and the documents for the price proposal for access to the storage tank and gas storage,
• details on determining the price for the trader's services in the supply of gas to the end consumer of gas for heat production and heat supply.

In accordance with the accompanying documentation, the proposed modifications resulted from changes in Act no. 250/2012 Coll. on regulation in network industries (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulation Act") and Act no. 251/2012 Coll. on energy and on amendments to certain laws (hereinafter referred to as the "Energy Act"), which were amended by Act no. 128/2024 Coll. and Act no. 143/2024 Coll.

The end date of the comment procedure was 14 August 2024.

The start date of the interdepartmental comment procedure is expected to be in October 2024.

The legislative process is currently in the comment stage. Its status can be continuously followed at this link.

■     Preliminary information on the RONI decree amending the electricity market rules

On 1 August 2024, a comment procedure was initiated on the preliminary information on the draft RONI decree, which amends and supplements RONI decree no. 207/2023 Coll., establishing the rules for the functioning of the internal electricity market, the content requirements of the system operator's operating rules, the short-term electricity market organizer and the scope of commercial conditions that are part of the system operator's operating rules as amended (hereinafter referred to as "electricity market rules") The number of this legislative process is PI/2024/185.

The submitted draft is intended to amend and supplement some provisions of the electricity market rules, namely:

• details on concluding contracts for the supply of electricity and contracts for the joint supply of electricity, for changing the electricity supplier and aggregator and the relevant time limits in the process of changing the electricity supplier and aggregator, as well as details on the content of the billing invoice for the supply of electricity,
• regulation of the conditions for connecting electric power facilities and off-take electric facilities to the system, including clarification of the assumption of responsibility for a deviation at the transfer point of a small source and a local source that is connected to a connection point identical to the off-take point of the electricity consumer on the basis of a contract for the joint supply of electricity,
• regulation of data disclosure by the short-term electricity market organizer through an electronic system,
• specification of the requirements of the operating rules.

The end date of the comment procedure was set for 14 August 2024.

The start date of the interdepartmental comment procedure is expected to be in October 2024.

The current status of the legislative process, which is currently in the preliminary information comment stage, can be followed at this link.

■     Preliminary information on the RONI decree amending and supplementing the gas market rules

On 1 August 2024, RONI initiated a comment procedure on the preliminary information on the draft RONI decree which amends and supplements RONI decree no. 208/2023 Coll., establishing the rules for the functioning of the internal gas market, the content of the system operator's and storage operator's operating rules and the scope of commercial conditions that are part of the system operator's operating rules as amended (hereinafter referred to as "gas market rules") under the legislative process number: PI/2024/186.

The main aim of this draft is to amend and supplement some provisions of the gas market rules, namely:

details on concluding gas supply contracts and joint gas supply contracts,

details on changing the gas supplier, including time limits in the process of changing the gas supplier,

details on the content of the invoice for gas supply,

method of determining the state of the specified meter.

The end date of the comment procedure was set for 14 August 2024.

The start date of the interdepartmental comment procedure is expected to be in October 2024.

The legislative process is currently in the comment stage. Its status can be continuously monitored at this link.

■     A new call aimed at greening the heating industry was launched

On 16 July 2024, the Ministry of the Environment (hereinafter referred to as "Ministry of the Environment") published information on its website about the launch of a new hybrid call from the Modernization Fund aimed at greening the heating industry. Specifically, this is the launch of the MoF - 2/2024 call for the submission of applications for the provision of funds in the form of subsidies for projects from the Modernization Fund to support investments in the modernization of energy systems, including energy storage and energy efficiency improvement.

The subject of the support is the provision of state aid to improve energy efficiency by modernizing energy systems, including heat distribution in the centralized heat and cold supply system (hereinafter referred to as "CZT"), with the aim of increasing the number of effective CZT systems, energy storage and the application of smart solutions for heat distribution and related facilities, namely by increasing the share of electricity and heat produced by highly efficient electricity and heat cogeneration facilities (hereinafter referred to as "CHP") and by reducing the consumption of primary energy sources in the production of electricity and heat.

The Ministry of the Environment stated that the new call was announced as part of the new state aid scheme for the heating industry, on the preparation of which it worked closely with the Ministry of the Economy of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as "Ministry of the Economy"). The executor of the new call is the Environmental Fund (hereinafter referred to as "Envirofond").

Legal entities carrying our business activities in the thermal energy sector listed in the relevant register are entitled to apply for support. In addition to traditional producers and distributors of heat, entities whose business subject is not exclusively the production or distribution of heat, cold, energy, but which also generate heat, cold or energy as a by-product within their industry, can now apply for a subsidy.

As part of the call, eligible activities are facilities based on CHP and heat distribution systems, or a combination of both.

At the same time, the Ministry of the Environment stated on its website that it has proceeded to close the previous state aid scheme for the heating industry - MoF - 1/2022 call. The relevant guideline for closing the call is available HERE.

The full text of MoF– 2/2024 call is available at this link.

You can read more about the call HERE.

■     SIEA published the amount of funds requested in the call aimed at promoting energy efficiency and the use of RES in public buildings

On 30 July 2024, the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency (hereinafter referred to as "SIEA") published a report on the amount of funds requested in the call of the Slovakia Program, aimed at reducing energy intensity and the use of renewable sources in public buildings with the code PSK-SIEA-002-2023-DV-EFRR.

SIEA states in its report that as of 26 July 2024, 652 applications had already been submitted within this call in the 23rd evaluation round. The call remains open. SIEA is not yet proceeding with its closure.

You can read more HERE.

■     A public consultation was held on the proposal for the determination and use of special products for balancing energy and availability

On 4 July 2024, RONI published a notice on its website on the initiation of a public consultation on the document "Proposal for the determination and use of special products for balancing energy and availability" (hereinafter referred to as the "Proposal").

RONI informed that on 3 July 2024 it received a notice from the transmission system operator SEPS about the initiation of a public consultation on the Proposal document. The public consultation started on 3 July 2024, and the last day for sending comments to the public consultation was 5 August 2024.

According to the information published on the SEPS website, the subject of the public consultation was the updated Proposal, which mainly regulates the parameters of the TRV3MIN/mFRR3 service and the date of renaming/transition of the TRV3MIN product to mFRR3.

The evaluation of comments from the public consultation has not yet been published.

You will find out more information about the topic HERE.

■     SEPS has updated its technical conditions

Slovenská elektrizačná prenosová sústava, a.s. (hereinafter referred to as "SEPS") informed that on 9 July 2024, the board of directors of SEPS approved changes to the technical conditions documents (hereinafter referred to as "Technical conditions").

SEPS specified that the changes in the Technical conditions result primarily from the process of connecting SEPS to the European platforms for the exchange of balancing energy (BE) from frequency restoration reserves with manual (mFRR) and automatic (aFRR) activation in 2024.

The update related to the connection to the platforms concerns documents A, D, E and F of the Technical conditions. Changes resulting from application practice and changes aimed at harmonizing the wording of the Technical conditions with the legislation were incorporated in documents N and O of the Technical conditions.

You can find more detailed information along with the updated SEPS Technical conditions documents HERE.

■     Issuance of vouchers in the Green Households project has started

On 15 July 2024, the Ministry of the Economy of the Slovak Republic published a report that, together with SIEA, they are launching the activation and issuance of vouchers from the Green households project to support the installation of equipment for the use of renewable energy sources - biomass boilers, heat pumps, solar collectors, photovoltaic panels or wind turbines.

Vouchers were activated in stages. The first stage, in which contractors could activate applications for biomass boilers and solar collectors, was launched on 16 July 2024.

The Ministry of the Economy of the Slovak Republic further informed that it has adjusted the allocated budget for the Bratislava region so that it is fairer, according to the number of inhabitants of each region. 14.2 million EUR were allocated for households in the Bratislava region.

The Ministry of the Economy of the Slovak Republic also stated that in the 3rd quarter of 2024, together with SIEA, it intends to launch a new Green Solidarity project.

Aid under the Green Solidarity project will primarily be intended for low-income households that cannot afford to invest in modern equipment even with a standard support amount. As part of the Green Solidarity project, according to available information, they will be able to receive vouchers with up to 90% support for the installation of biomass boilers, solar collectors and photovoltaic panels. The Ministry of the Economy of the Slovak Republic points out that households can already use the calculator to check whether they meet the conditions for obtaining higher support amounts. A budget of 30 million EUR is allocated for this project.

You can read more about this topic at this link.

■     A new call for support of quickly implementable energy measures to reduce consumption

On 16 July 2024, SIEA published information on the announcement of a new call from the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic, through which public buildings owned or managed by the state or municipalities will be able to use support for quickly implementable energy measures to reduce consumption (call code 19/02-26/ 01).

As part of the call, eligible applicants will be able to apply for financial resources, e.g. for replacing windows and external doors, insulating the roof or floor of an unheated attic. It will be possible to modernize lighting, install thermostatic heads, valves or solar collectors.

Eligible applicants for drawing funds are e.g. municipal, city or district offices, but also individual higher territorial units (VÚC), ministries, courts, police, army, but also prisons or fire stations.

The executor of the said call is the Ministry of the Economy of the Slovak Republic and the intermediary is SlEA.

The total allocation of the call is 23,539,992 EUR. The minimum amount of the contribution is 100,000 EUR, the maximum contribution depends on the total floor area of ​​the building and the scope of the implemented measures. However, the measures in the buildings must be implemented by the end of June 2025.

Applications within this call will be accepted by SIEA from 19 August 2024.

You can find the text of the call together with the attachments HERE.

You can find more information HERE.

■     A new call to support the building of a pilot hydrogen infrastructure for road transport

The Ministry of the Economy of the Slovak Republic, as the executor of Component 3 – Sustainable transport within the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the SR, announced on 3 July 2024 a call for support for building a pilot hydrogen infrastructure for road transport (code 03I04-26-V04).

The purpose of the call is to support the development of the infrastructure of alternative fuels in the Slovak Republic in the form of building hydrogen filling stations.

Eligible applicants are natural persons or legal entities according to Sec. 2 (2) (a) to (c) of the Commercial Code, registered in the Commercial Register of the Slovak Republic or doing business on the basis of a trade license or on the basis of a licence other than a trade license according to special regulations.

Eligible projects are only pilot projects aimed at the construction of a pilot publicly accessible hydrogen filling station for the purposes of road transport, which may also include the construction of a facility for the production of electricity from renewable sources or renewable hydrogen on site and a facility for storing electricity from renewable sources or renewable hydrogen.

The eligible area for this call is only the area:

a)      urban hub;

b)      area along the main TEN-T network.

The total amount of funds allocated to the call is 3,000,000 EUR without VAT.

The call will be open until the allocated amount of the mechanism funds allocated to the call is used up, but no later than 31 October 2024, or by the decision of the executor.

The text of the call with attachments is available HERE.

You can read more HERE.

■     SEPS Public consultation on changing the SEPS operating rules

On 25 July 2024, SEPS announced a public consultation on changing its operating rules on its website. The public consultation lasted from 26 July 2024 to 9 August 2024 (inclusive).

The subject of this public consultation are the changes to the SEPS operating rules, which should result mainly from the process of connecting SEPS in 2024 to European platforms for the exchange of Balancing electricity (BE) from frequency restoration reserves with manual (mFRR) and automatic (aFRR) activation (also known such as the MARI and PICASSO projects).

In particular, the following changes should take place in the SEPS operating rules:

• time interval change from 1 hour to 15 min., namely in scheduling the preparation of the operation, as well as procurement of availability from 1 January 2025,
• change in the structure and scope of the data sent by the auxiliary service providers,
• modification of the method of evaluating availability and BE, as well as the method of valuing BE in the electrification system of the Slovak Republic in the event of activation of emergency assistance for other transmission system operators,
• change in establishing the rules for sanctioning mechanisms, which are related to the expansion of the scope of submission of operation preparation by the schedule of BE,
• other changes and additions, including formal adjustments related to the need to harmonize the provisions of the operating rules with the energy legislation.

The remaining changes and additions to the operating rules, including formal adjustments, should be related to the need to harmonize the provisions of the operating rules with the energy legislation.

All information and documents for public consultation are published HERE.

■     A public consultation on changing the operating rules of the VSD was initiated

RONI published information that on 26 July 2024 it received from the distribution system operator, the company Východoslovenská distribučná, a.s. (hereinafter referred to as "VSD") a notice on the initiation of public consultation on the proposal to amend the RONI decision no. 0017/2018/E-EU dated 14 December 2018.

With this decision, RONI approved the requirements for the connection of electricity producers to the electricity system in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/631 dated 14 April 2016, which establishes the network regulation for the requirements for the connection of electricity producers to the electricity system.

The public consultation was initiated on 26 July 2024 and the last day for sending comments was 27 August 2024 (inclusive).

Detailed information about the public consultation is available on the VSD website at this link.

You can read more information HERE.

■     SEPS launched the local operation of the MARI and PICASSO project

On 25 July 2024, SEPS reported that on 1 July 2024, it successfully launched the first phase of the MARI and PICASSO project, which is aimed at exchanging balancing energy (BE) from aFRR and mFRR auxiliary services.

SEPS also announced that, as part of preparations for entering both platforms, it introduced local operations in the so-called in disconnected mode.

According to SEPS itself, thanks to the successful launch of the first phase of the project, large-scale changes were introduced in Slovakia, necessary for connecting to the MARI and PICASSO platforms. This step fundamentally changes and adjusts the way of maintaining the power balance in the electricity system in Slovakia. A properly functioning local operation mode is also important for SEPS in the future, when it can be used in the event of a sudden outage, e.g. of communication between SEPS IT systems and the relevant platform. In such a case, according to SEPS, the Slovak electricity system will disconnect from the platforms and switch to local operation mode (the so-called "disconnected" mode), where it will remain until the situation is resolved and reconnected.

One of the biggest changes is the introduction of a 15-minute trading period for submission of price offers for the activation of BE from auxiliary services such as aFRR and mFRR in preparation of the operation of auxiliary services, as well as in the method of valuation of BE from the activation of these auxiliary services.

Currently, the technical and legislative preparation for the implementation of the actual connection to the PICASSO platform, which is planned for 5 November 2024, and the subsequent connection to the MARI platform, which is planned for 3 December 2024, is underway.

You can find more information HERE.  

■     Correction of Pzn in EUR per unit of electricity quantity for individual electricity production technologies for the year 2025

On 29 July 2024, RONI published the document "Correction of Pzn in EUR per unit of electricity quantity for individual electricity production technologies for the year 2025" on its website.

Said document is available HERE.  

■     SIEA informs about the activation and issuance of vouchers within the project Green households for all equipment

On 31 July 2024, information on the activation of voucher applications for the last type of equipment - photovoltaic panels, which was opened on 29 July 2024, was published on the SIEA website.

Households can continue to apply for vouchers for all five types of supported equipment that use renewable energy sources continuously through an electronic form.

You can learn more HERE.

■     RONI’s new regional office in Prešov

RONI informs that as of 1 August 2024, it has established a new regional office in Prešov. In addition to Bratislava, RONI‘s inspection department will also carry out its activities at offices in Prešov, Trenčín, Martin and Košice.

The establishment of a new regional office in Prešov results from the current significant legislative strengthening of the competences of RONI, which, inter alia, also takes over some tasks of the Slovak Trade Inspection and will carry out state supervision as the central body of state administration for the field of ​​network industries.

You can learn more HERE. 

You can download the monitoring for the month of July 2024 in PDF format here.

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Legal notice

The information provided to the subscriber as part of the monitoring of energy legislation is not a source of legally binding legislation, as only the collection of laws of the Slovak Republic contains the legally binding wording of the legislation in terms of the legal code of the Slovak Republic. The information provided to the subscriber is only informative and does not replace legal service pursuant to the Act no. 586/2003 Coll. on advocacy. The law firm POLÁČEK & PARTNERS s. r. o. is not responsible for the completeness and accuracy of the information provided in the energy legislation monitoring. In case of questions regarding the information provided to the subscriber, the subscriber can ask the law firm POLÁČEK & PARTNERS s. r. o. for the provision of legal services for this purpose.