Electricity & gas in Czechia: your rights

The market

You choose your electricity and gas supplier freely. The supplier sets the commercial part of the price; distribution (the grid part) is regulated by ERÚ and depends on where you live.

Energy regulator

Energetický regulační úřad (ERÚ)

Dispute resolution

Energetický regulační úřad – mimosoudní řešení spotřebitelských sporů · free

Raise the problem with your supplier first and keep the correspondence. Then send ERÚ a written proposal (post, data box eeuaau7 or signed e-mail) with your contract, bills and communication. No fee; decision within 90 days (120 if complex) and binding.

Compare prices official

Srovnávač nabídek dodavatelů elektřiny a plynu ERÚ

Switching supplier

Sign a contract with the new supplier; with a power of attorney it can handle the switch for you. It takes 1–3 months depending on notice periods (open-ended contracts: max. 3 months from the 1st of the next month). Since 1 Aug 2025 the penalty for leaving a fixed-price contract early is capped at 40% of what you would still have paid.

Price rises

Your supplier must inform you personally at least 30 days before changing its price (also when lowering it). If it raises the commercial part of the price or changes terms, you can terminate without penalty no later than the 10th day before the change. Changes in the ERÚ-regulated part are not a reason to terminate.

Regulated price

There is no regulated end price for household electricity or gas; only the grid and system components are set by ERÚ. From 1 Jan 2026 the state pays the renewables (POZE) contribution, so the regulated part fell by about 15%. ERÚ also publishes monthly 'indicative prices' as a fair-price benchmark.

Help if money is tight

There is no special energy social tariff. Low-income households can apply to the Labour Office (Úřad práce ČR) for the state social assistance benefit ('superdávka'); its housing part helps pay rent and energy. Apply online via Jenda or at any Labour Office branch.

Protection against cut-off

According to ERÚ, you can only be disconnected for non-payment after repeated failures: at least two different unpaid payments (e.g. two advances), each preceded by a reminder with a reasonable deadline. Threatening a cut-off after one missed advance may be illegal; contact ERÚ.

If your supplier goes bust

If your supplier stops trading, a supplier of last resort (dodavatel poslední instance) takes over automatically. It can supply you for at most six months; its prices are usually higher, so sign a new contract with any supplier within that time.

Power cut

Report power cuts to your distributor (it depends on where you live). Planned outages must be announced at least 15 days ahead. If quality standards are breached, you can claim compensation from the distributor or supplier.

Cooling-off period

You can withdraw from a contract signed off-premises or at a distance within 14 days (30 days after an unsolicited home visit or sales event). When switching this way you can also terminate until the 15th day after supply starts (15-day notice).

Smart meter

Since 1 July 2024 distributors must install smart meters free of charge for all low-voltage customers using more than 6 MWh a year; the deadline is 30 June 2027. Customers do not need to apply.

Solar panels

Households with their own solar panels can share electricity with other consumption points through the Electricity Data Centre (EDC); it lowers the recipient's bill. Sharing needs a 15-minute (smart) meter, installed free by the distributor. Surplus can also be sold to a trader under contract.

Free energy advice

Free energy-saving advice for households across the country (also online), guaranteed and funded by the Ministry of Industry and Trade: heating, insulation, subsidies.

Fixed and dynamic contracts

Czech energy law allows contracts with a dynamically set price: the price changes during the contract in line with short-term market prices. Such a contract only takes effect if your supply point has interval (smart) metering, and you can end it at any time with one month's notice.

• The one-month notice period starts on the first day of the month after your notice reaches the supplier. ERÚ publishes a template for this notice. (eru.gov.cz)

Energy sharing and communities

Since August 2024 households can share electricity from their own source with other supply points. Sharing groups register with the Elektroenergetické datové centrum (EDC). As an active customer you can share with up to 11 points over the grid, or up to 1,000 within one apartment building.

• All points in the group need interval (smart) meters; the distributor installs them free of charge. (eru.gov.cz)
• Energy communities (energetická společenství) can have up to 1,000 members and must be registered with ERÚ; an active customer needs no ERÚ registration. (eru.gov.cz)
• The law does not regulate the price of shared electricity: group members agree it among themselves. (eru.gov.cz)

Heating without the gas grid

District heating (CZT) supplies more than a third of Czech households. ERÚ does not set a fixed heat price: it regulates how suppliers calculate it (věcně usměrňovaná cena), checks that only justified costs are charged and can impose sanctions.

• ERÚ steps in only when a heat supplier breaks the calculation or price rules. Its powers end with the building owner: disputes between owner or SVJ and residents are decided by the courts. (eru.gov.cz)

Grants for heat pumps and insulation

Nová zelená úsporám is the state programme for home renovation: insulation, heat pumps and other heat-source replacement, solar panels. It is run by the Ministry of the Environment and administered by the State Environmental Fund (SFŽP). Lower-income households can use Nová zelená úsporám Light.

• Besides grants, the programme offers interest-free loans for full or partial renovations through participating banks, and free energy-saving advice. (novazelenausporam.cz)

Charging an electric car at home

There is no general legal right to a charger in an apartment building. According to official guidance from MMR, MPO and MD, a wallbox in the common parts needs a majority vote of the owners (SVJ); in your own garage unit with no work on common parts, no SVJ consent is needed.

• If building work inside your unit is needed, you must tell the SVJ in advance and allow it to check that common parts are not affected. (mmr.gov.cz)
• If the wallbox creates a new exclusive use of a common area, the owners' declaration must change: a majority vote plus consent of the owners affected. (mmr.gov.cz)

Back-billing and estimated bills

Your supplier must bill you at least once a year; a billing period may not exceed 14 months. If the meter is not read, consumption may be estimated from standard load profiles, but at most twice in a row; then a physical reading or your own reading is required.

• The supplier must send the bill within 15 days of receiving the meter data. (eru.gov.cz)
• A complaint about a bill must usually be settled within 15 days, or 30 days if it concerns the measured consumption. If the deadline is missed you are owed compensation; you must pay any balance on time even while complaining. (eru.gov.cz)

Energy costs for tenants

In a block of flats the heat supplier bills the owner, SVJ or cooperative, which splits the costs between flats under a decree of the Ministry for Regional Development. The yearly statement must reach owners and tenants within four months of the end of the billing period.

• You have the right to know the building's total heating costs and how they were split between flats, but not your neighbours' consumption. ERÚ cannot decide disputes with the owner or SVJ: that is for the courts. (eru.gov.cz)

Vulnerable and medical customers

People who depend on a medical device that needs a continuous power supply can be registered as vulnerable customers with a doctor's confirmation (valid up to 2 years). They get 15 days' notice of planned outages and of termination for non-payment.

• Before cutting off a vulnerable customer, the supplier must alert the social authorities; the supplier of last resort also covers them for 3 months. (eru.gov.cz)

Grid connection

To connect a home power plant (e.g. solar panels) you apply to your distributor. At low voltage it must tell you within 30 days of a complete application whether and how you can be connected, and within 15 days if data are missing.

• You then have 30 days (low voltage) to accept the connection contract, otherwise the reserved capacity lapses; the connection fee share is due within 15 days of signing. (eru.gov.cz)

Consumer organisation

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