The government adopted a regulation to help major commercial electricity consumers

The government issued the Regulation on determining the pricing mechanism of electricity prices for major commercial consumers, with which it defines the reference purchase price of electricity, in order to help companies due to high energy prices. The regulation shall enter into force tomorrow and will be in force up to and including 31 December 2022.

Due to high electricity prices on exchanges, the government adopted the necessary measures in line with the Price Control Act to control the product prices on the market. The current electricity prices on the market have been very high since October 2021, compared to the long-term average. Due to the disruptions in natural gas supplies, we may also expect further price increases of natural gas. The government has evaluated that such price trend disruptions on the market cannot be classified as regular seasonal fluctuations as defined by the Price Control Act.

In previous months, the government already adopted appropriate measures to control energy prices for households, small commercial consumers and some protected consumers. It also provided national aid options for major commercial entities.

With the respective regulation, the government also established or mitigated electricity prices for major commercial consumers, including business entities that do not meet the eligibility criteria for the highest allowed retail selling price as defined in the Decree on the determination of electricity prices, adopted in previous months. The government adopted the regulation due to the persistently uncertain situation on the market and the fact that no measures have been adopted at EU level aimed at sufficiently reducing these prices. The government also took such measures due to the situation in which stock markets in our vicinity remain illiquid, and to ensure prices for the Slovenian economy that would allow companies to continue carrying out their economic activities.

Unlike the restriction of electricity prices, the regulation of mitigating electricity prices for major commercial consumers defines the retail pricing mechanism for the sale of electricity, the components which the electricity supplier needs to take into consideration in the pricing process, as well as the criteria under which such price components need to be made.

As per the regulation, the electricity supplier is obliged to offer and conclude a contract with the consumer on the supply of the product at a fixed price for the higher and lower daily tariff for the maximum supply of electricity, whereby the pricing method for the higher and lower daily tariff, its components and criteria which need to be considered when such components are formed, depends on a special formula which is defined in detail in the regulation and is comprised of the annual future base-load electricity price on the German exchange, the price of the annual future peak electricity product on the German exchange and the maximum allowed cost of the supplier.

The regulation defines the electricity pricing mechanism for supplying electricity to commercial consumers for 2023, and concerns only supply contracts concluded from the day of its entry into force up to and including 31 December 2022. The validity of most consumer supply contracts covered by this regulation expires at the end of December 2022. Because prices have been very high up to this point, many contracts still need to be concluded for 2023. The regulation therefore takes effect on the next day following its publication, thus giving suppliers and consumers one month to conclude supply contracts for 2023.

Suppliers that supply electricity to consumers at the time of the adoption of this regulation, and for which the regulation is used, cannot suspend the supply of electricity to the aforementioned consumer categories during the validity of this regulation, and must provide offers to consumers which are in line with the conditions laid down by the regulation. This provision is necessary in order to prevent suppliers from avoiding this obligation by not providing offers or concluding supply contracts, or by suspending supply altogether.

Source: Ministry of infrastructure

The government re-appointed Slavko Koroš as the acting director general of the Police and Security Directorate

On 2 December 2022, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia re-appointed Slavko Koroš as acting director general of the Police and Security Directorate at the Ministry of the Interior, until a general director is appointed following a tender process, but for no longer than six months, which is by 1 June 2023 at the latest.

Article 83, paragraph nine of the Public Employees Act states that an acting person may perform tasks from the launch of a tender process until the appointment of a new official to the position as per Article 82, paragraph two of the Act, without a public tender, but for no longer than 6 months. A person that fulfils the prescribed conditions may be appointed as the acting person without a public tender. The Minister of the Interior proposed to the government to re-appoint Slavko Koroš, who meets all of the respective conditions, as acting director general of the Police and Security Directorate at the Ministry of the Interior, until a general director is appointed following a tender process, but for no longer than six months.

Source: Ministry of the Interior