Members of parliament for the ruling coalition fulfilled Prime Minister Robert Fico's threat addressed to foreign shareholders of the gas utility Slovenský Plynárenský Priemysel (SPP) and on November 6 changed the rules for proposing changes to natural gas prices, the SITA newswire wrote.
Coalition MPs pushed through the amendment, according to which new price proposals of energy companies will have to be approved at a meeting of shareholders before the proposals are submitted to the market regulator.
Currently, only the SPP board of directors, on which foreign shareholders Gaz de France and E.ON Ruhrgas have a majority, has to agree to proposals. However, decisions at shareholders’ meetings will be influenced by the state, which holds a 51-percent stake in SPP.
The new rules will apply to all companies that have to submit proposals for new prices for electricity, gas, water and heat to the regulatory authority.
The law is the government’s response to SPP’s third request this year to raise household gas prices, this time by up to 24 percent. Two previous requests have been rejected by the regulatory authority. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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