📋 Tender Overview
The Ministry of Regional Development organized a round table where participants were informed about the upcoming changes in the decree on the allocation of heating costs. The modifications are based on an expert analysis prepared for the Ministry by CTU. The aim is to reduce the biggest differences and provide more incentives for austerity behaviour. The decree will newly take into account the energy performance of the building.
"The current method of allocating the costs of heat and hot water in centrally heated houses does not motivate savings. We decided to change that. The new rules for accounting will lead to fairer payment settings and support efforts to save," said Ivan Bartoš, Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalisation and Minister for Regional Development.
In an effort to set up a fairer system that will better reflect the economic side of heat supply, as well as suggestions from customers and house managers, the Ministry of Regional Development has established cooperation with CTU. The University has prepared a detailed study, which models different ways of customer behavior, different location of the apartment in the house or setting parameters for the basic and consumption components of billing. The Subject Matter Department of the Ministry of Regional Development based its proposal on changes to the Decree.
The decree will newly take into account the hitherto neglected energy performance of the building. It is in energy-efficient buildings that billing will be fairest, as heat does not escape out of the building. This could further motivate the insulation of buildings and the modernisation of the heating system, including its digitalisation, which is a Europe-wide trend.
The proposal changes the ratio of the basic and consumption components, as well as the lower limit for the separate consumption component. The ratio of the basic component is newly linked to the Energy Performance Certificate of the building. Instead of the conditions of the existing decree, where the basic component of heating costs for an apartment accounts for 30 to 50 percent of the costs, housing cooperatives and owners' associations will have a choice of three options depending on the energy performance of the building. The basic component should be 40, 50 or 60 percent, with the fact that the service provider, i.e. the facility manager, cooperative or community, can increase or decrease it by 10 percent.
Another major change and motivation for savings is the proposal to reduce the limit for the lower limit when calculating the consumption component from -20% to -30%, i.e. 10% lower than before. This will have an impact especially on those who behave thriftely and whom the MMR wants to support. The upper limit of the consumption component, on the other hand, will remain unchanged. Its further postponement could disadvantage people who stay in the apartment all day, such as parents with small children, people with disabilities or seniors.
The new rules for heat cost allocation will apply from 1 January next year. For the period until 31 December this year, heating costs would be charged according to the existing rules.
