The Legal Framework of the Mandatory Cap on Market Revenues for Electricity Producers and the Solidarity Contribution in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Abstract

On 6 October 2022, the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation 2022/1854 on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices (Regulation 2022/1854). Regulation 2022/1854 establishes an emergency intervention to mitigate the effects of high energy prices through exceptional, targeted, and time-limited measures aiming to ensure the necessary solutions and respond to the current energy situation. For this purpose, three groups of measures are introduced: (i) measures aiming to reduce energy consumption, (ii) introducing a mandatory cap on market revenues for electricity producers, and (iii) introducing a solidarity contribution to be imposed on crude petroleum, natural gas, coal, and refinery companies. In this paper, the authors focus on the legal framework adopted in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia to introduce the mandatory cap on market revenues to electricity producers as well as the solidarity contribution.