Českolipská teplárenská will increase the price of heat by 51 percent since the New Year, so the average Českolipská household will pay CZK 540 more per month. Customers involved in the loyalty program, who have prices four percent lower, will be slightly better off. The reason for the significant increase is the rise in gas prices, which the heating plant is heating up, according to Helena Jeřábková, head of the sales department.
Českolipská teplárenská supplies heat and hot water to over 9,000 households in Česká Lípa and Dubá, as well as dozens of organizations, such as schools, offices and shops. An ordinary household will pay CZK 907.87 for gigajoules of heat and hot water from the New Year against CZK 599.82 for gigajoules for this year. The same customer involved in the loyalty program will have a lower price – 871.55 CZK / GJ, this year he paid 575.83 crowns. Prices could have been even higher. The MVV Energie CZ Group, to which the Českolipská teplárna belongs, has only passed on part of the increased costs.
“If we did not do this, customers would pay much more for heat,” said Radomír Ondra, chairman of the heating plant’s board of directors. Although the group had gas supplies contracted in advance for the entire year 2022, it had to find a new supplier in record time. “The original trader, with whom the parent company MVV concluded deliveries at prices valid in 2020, was not able to guarantee the contracted deliveries. We had to buy gas at current prices, which are four times higher than a year ago,” added Ondra.
MVV passed on only part of the costs to its customers. “We wanted to keep the growth of household expenditure on heat to the minimum necessary. This decision applies to all our heating plants, which use mainly natural gas,” added Jörg Lüdorf, Chairman of the Board of MVV Energie CZ. The group buys gas centrally and, according to him, currently has enough gas for the entire heating season, and a new supplier has already been selected for 2023.
Heat prices in Česká Lípa are among the highest in the Liberec Region. The group also includes Teplárna Liberec, which has increased the price of heat by 11 percent, which represents approximately 120 crowns more per month for the household. The price in Liberec helps to reduce the heat supplied from the neighboring waste incinerator, which also belongs to MVV. Less than 17 percent will increase the price of heat in neighboring Jablonec nad Nisou, where they have invested heavily in modernizing the system in recent years. The household will thus pay an additional CZK 200 per month.
Source: Českolipská teplárenská and CTK
