As we have already informed you, at the end of last year a group of MPs introduced an amendment known as ” Lex Gas”, i.e. a proposal to amend Act No. 458/2000 Coll., the Energy Act, and Act No. 416/2009 Coll., on accelerating the construction of strategically important infrastructure, as amended, and other related legislation.

After the bill passed its first reading in the Chamber of Deputies, the possibility of submitting amendments was opened. In the wording of the amendments submitted, Lex Gas was then placed on the agenda of the Economic Committee on 20 February 2025. In this context, we would like to draw attention to the proposal of the Minister of Industry and Trade, Lukáš Vlček, which also supplements the existing wording by amending Act No 406/2000 Coll., on energy management, in relation to the so-called “power wasters”.

An electricity “waster” is a device that can be used to balance the state of the electricity system, because it can be used to supply so-called negative flexibility, which means that it is a device that consumes electricity when there is a surplus of electricity. The end product of this process is thermal energy.

The above amendment adds to the amendment a requirement that the thermal energy generated by the electricity “waster” be further utilised. According to the explanatory memorandum to the amendment, the purpose of this requirement is to prevent the thermal energy produced by the electricity waster from being wasted.

According to the amendment, however, it will not be possible to operate the “electricity waster” without ensuring additional use of the generated heat energy, e.g. for heating buildings or for industrial purposes. It will only be possible to get a precise idea of the ‘permitted’ use of thermal energy once the implementing legislation for the Act on energy management has been issued. At the same time, it is already evident that the legislators want to associate the violation of the obligation to use thermal energy generated by a electricity waster with a relatively high fine, up to CZK 5,000,000. The State Energy Inspectorate is to supervise compliance with the rule.

According to the information on the progress of the legislative process, it can be expected that the deputies will deal with the “Lex Gas” only after they have dealt with the Senate amendments to the amendment “Lex RES III”. We can therefore expect further developments on this level during the month of March. The “Lex Gas” amendment itself is expected to take effect on 1 August 2025 in its current form. We will keep you informed of further developments on this topic.

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