It may be necessary to limit Czech residential gas consumption, said the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade on Wednesday in Prague. However, Jozef Síkela rejected the accusations that the government would favor industry over households in the event of a gas shortage.
In the event of a gas shortage, the government will not give priority to the industry over the supply of households, but a situation may arise in which the solidarity of the population will be necessary, as well as the restriction of household consumption, he said.
Maintaining the functionality of the Czech industry is in the interest of all citizens, he said.
Jozef Síkela also spoke about the possibility of a situation in the European market where there is no gas at all.
In such a case, of course, it is necessary to switch to some system of restrictions: it would be appropriate if the so-called protected consumers, i.e. households, were also in solidarity, he said.
The Czech government is preparing measures to help households due to the extraordinarily high electricity prices. The so-called economical tariff system is introduced, on the other hand, the state spends 10 billion kroner to support the electricity bills of households, which means that each household receives about 17 thousand kroner (280,500 forints) to reduce its costs.
Next year, this state support will be 30 billion kroner, and it will support not only electricity, but also gas and heating bills.
MTI
Cover image: Illustration (Photo: MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák)
