As in previous years, the Karlovy Vary Region again purchased natural gas on the commodity exchange. In addition to its government-funded organisations, municipalities from the region and organisations managed by them have newly joined it. Thanks to central purchasing, significant savings have been achieved for the next two years, not only in the price per MWh but also, for example, in the exchange trading fee.
The joint purchase of natural gas took place on the Power Exchange Central Europe commodity exchange and involved 40 contributory organisations of the Karlovy Vary Region and 48 municipalities and their organisations. “Since we managed to get a discount for early purchase, the fee for trading on the exchange was only CZK 132,968, excluding VAT. That is about half of what we paid for last year's electricity purchase. The fee will be charged to all participants according to the specified estimated consumption,” said Karel Jakobec, regional councillor for the environment, agriculture and energy.
In the previous period, 45,790 MWh had been demanded for the Karlovy Vary Region and its organisations for two years, with the final price reaching CZK 468/MWh, excluding VAT. This year the volume was almost doubled to 82,035 MWh. On the second attempt, the price of CZK 564/MWh, excluding VAT, was obtained at auction, and adding to the success, another auction was held on the same day with a final price of CZK 582/MWh. Eight energy suppliers took part in the auction and the winner was Pražská plynárenská.
“As with the last electricity auction, we did the administration ourselves, which is another cost saving for an external processor. We also managed to shorten the overall preparation time from the approval in the Council of the Karlovy Vary Region to the entry of the purchase order into the exchange system. With the auction, we thus hit a slight drop in prices since the autumn increase, when the price per MWh climbed to CZK 700,” added Councillor Karel Jakobec.