The government will discuss capping energy prices for large companies
Update: 14/12/2022 00:05
Issued by: 14/12/2022, 00:05
Prague – Capping energy prices even for large companies and several drafts of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs are the most important items on the agenda of today’s government meeting. The ministers will discuss, for example, an increase in the living wage from 4,620 to 4,860 crowns or an increase in the state subsidy for kangaroos and similar devices for immediate help to children by ten percent. They could also decide on the creation and filling of the post of national security adviser.
Next year, the same price ceiling should apply to large companies, as the government had previously set for other customers. In autumn, the Cabinet set the ceilings at CZK 6,000 per megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity, including VAT, and CZK 3,000 per MWh of gas. If the proposal is approved, the extension of the price ceiling will cost a maximum of 40 billion crowns.
The living wage for individuals could increase from 4,620 to 4,860 crowns from January, i.e. by 5.2 percent. The subsistence minimum could rise from 2,980 to 3,130 crowns. The minimum has already been adjusted twice this year due to growth. It grew by ten percent from April and by almost nine percent from July. It is used to determine entitlement to benefits and to calculate some subsidies.
According to another proposal of the Ministry of Labor, the solidarity allowance for people who accommodate refugees for free in their own home or in their vacant apartment could also be paid in the first quarter of next year. Expenditures for the quarter could amount to 534 million crowns. The cabinet will also discuss the possible acceptance of a loan of 200 million euros (4.9 billion crowns) from the European Investment Bank to help refugees from Ukraine.
According to the server czdefence.cz the government also plans to purchase ammunition for 10.17 billion crowns without VAT from the Czech company STV GROUP a.s. Ministers could also appoint a new Secretary of State for Education, who would, according to Diary N Ondřej Andrys from the Czech School Inspectorate should have stood.