The government has submitted amendments to the Law on the Thermal Energy Market to the parliament from its session on Thursday, aiming to improve the position of users in multi-apartment buildings, with payments based on actual consumption and according to individual principles. The amendments are proposed to align domestic regulations with the European directive that particularly emphasizes the importance of individual measurement and billing of thermal energy consumption.
Therefore, among other things, it is proposed to separate individual thermal energy costs from common costs, which are considered regular maintenance of the building and are paid from the reserve fund.
As some co-owners cannot be exempted from obligations arising from costs incurred by the operation of the common part of the building – internal installations, it is proposed to divide the total thermal energy costs into individual and common.
The regulation of the installation, reading, and maintenance system for devices for local distribution of delivered thermal energy, or separate thermal energy meters, is also anticipated.
According to the government proposal, each end customer will still be able to disconnect from the heating system at any time by closing the thermostatic valve, or by voluntarily discontinuing the use of the heating system within the building.
When the end customer stops using the heating system at any time, individual thermal energy consumption for their independent usage unit will not be recorded on the local distribution device for delivered thermal energy and will not be charged. In this way, end customers can influence the individual thermal energy consumption in their apartment/business space and freely decide on the supply of thermal energy, the government states. It is also allowed to disconnect the entire building, provided that the legally prescribed conditions are met.
