THE SUPREME Court ruled that a government regulation passed two years ago with the goal of controlling price increases for electricity is unlawful. Enel, the Italian utility that is the majority owner of Slovakia’s dominant power producer, Slovenské Elektrárne, made no comment on the court’s ruling as it had not yet been published on the Supreme Court’s website, the Sme daily reported. Similarly, Prime Minister Robert Fico did not make any comments on the court decision regarding the regulation, which was initiated by his government.
If the unofficial information about the rationale of the court’s verdict is confirmed it will probably mean that the court has ordered that price-control issues be considered in a new administrative proceeding, said Branislav Zvara, spokesperson for Slovakia’s Economy Ministry.
Opposition politicians are now projecting that electricity prices for consumers will increase by leaps as a result of this past political interference. Because the regulation from 2008 also applied to SPP, the dominant natural gas utility, it might also have a market reaction to the court’s ruling but, according to Sme, SPP did not want to reveal what its next steps would be.
