Heat prices for households in Slovakia could grow 2 to 10 percent, estimates the chairman of the Slovak Association of Heat Producers, Miroslav Obšívaný, with an average increase of 6 percent, the SITA newswire reported.
This growth reflects higher natural gas prices, cancelled exemptions from the excise tax and the higher VAT rate, he explained, adding that prices for this year have been negatively influenced particularly by the higher price for natural gas used in heat production – up 6.12 percent, as approved by the Regulatory Office for Network Industries.
The price for heat has two components SITA wrote: a variable one that includes all costs of energies used in the production of heat and a fixed one consisting of operating costs and investments of a heat supplier. The variable component constitutes about 70 percent of the final price; the remaining 30 percent falls to the fixed component.
SITA wrote that heat producers which use natural gas as the primary fuel will see an
8.6-percent increase in the variable component, including VAT. The fixed component will rise by 1.3 percent on average from 2010, Obšívaný said. About 80 percent of heat produced in Slovakia is generated from natural gas.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
