Energy subsidies in Slovakia

published on 20 March 2023 | reading time approx. 2 minutes

On 21 February 2023, the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic published another call for pro-posals under Section 2.1 of the Commission Notice – Modification of the Temporary Crisis Framework for State Aid measures to support the economy following the aggression against Ukraine by Russia within the framework of the State aid scheme for the support of enterprises with a total volume of available resources of 279,820,623 euros.

The published call concerns the submission of applications for subsidies to cover the additional costs of economic units due to the increase in gas and electricity prices for the months January to March 2023. Under this call, economic operators may submit applications until 30 June 2023.

The basic prerequisite for submitting an application is that the eligible recipient of the subsidy is an undertaking that has established a point of consumption for electricity and/or gas in the eligible period.

The eligible cost for determining the amount of the subsidy is the product of the quantity of natural gas and/or electricity that the applicant, as an end-user, has taken from the relevant supplier of the commodity in the eligible period and the price increase paid by the applicant per unit consumed for the commodity supply. The price increase will be calculated as the difference between the unit price actually paid and the unit price for the supply of electricity of 199 euro/MWh and/or the unit price for the supply of gas of 99 euro/MWh. The maximum amount of the subsidy is limited to 200,000 euro/month per economic unit (which is understood in a broader sense than a single legal entity) and up to a maximum of 80 per cent of the eligible costs. Other limits apply for selected sectors (primary agricultural production, fisheries and aquaculture).

However, the call contains a number of exceptions, including in particular:

It does not apply to financial and credit institutions.
Subsidies cannot be applied to the cost of natural gas and/or electricity which the applicant has taken from the natural gas and/or electricity supplier in the eligible period for the purpose of generating electricity and heat.

The application shall be accompanied by a declaration by the applicant that other conditions have been met, for example that the applicant

is not the subject of insolvency proceedings, is not bankrupt or undergoing restructuring and has not had a bankruptcy petition dismissed for lack of assets,
recovery of aid is not sought on the basis of a previous Commission decision declaring the aid un-lawful and incompatible with the internal market,
has not been subject to a legally enforceable ban on receiving grants or subsidies,
has not been subject to a legally enforceable ban on receiving aid and assistance from European Union funds,
is not an undertaking subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union as a result of Russia's aggression against Ukraine,
is not a person, entity or body specifically mentioned in the legal acts imposing sanctions adopted by the European Union,
is not an undertaking owned or controlled by persons, entities or bodies targeted by sanctions imposed by the European Union,
is not an undertaking operating in the industrial sectors targeted by the sanctions adopted by the European Union.

Some of the other conditions listed in the call for applications are considered to be met for the purposes of the application, for example, that the applicant’s financial relations with the state budget are settled, or that the applicant has no arrears of social insurance premiums and the health insurance company does not register overdue debts against it, etc.

An application for a subsidy may be submitted only electronically via an electronic data box by a person who is the applicant's statutory body or by a representative with access to the data box.