Public Transport Fares Could Become More Expensive Due to Energy Costs Rising
According to the Association of Transport Companies, the cost of energy rising significantly by hundreds of millions next year, meaning that the increase in transport fares is possible.
They also say that the operations of urban public transport are also at risk due to these higher energy prices. The association says that there is a risk the energy supplies could terminate the current contracts.
Therefore the cost of transport in larger cities, mostly Prague, will be increasing in the following years. “Next year, we will pay about 60 percent more for electricity than this year, but with our volumes, this means an additional 560 million crowns. Another negative impact is the rise in oil prices,” says Petr Witowski, the head of the Prague Transport Company (DPP).
This is although DPP secures electricity from the Prague Energy Exchange in the form of ongoing purchases of smaller volumes.” Thanks to this purchasing policy, we can compensate for smaller and predictable fluctuations in electricity prices in the markets. However, since August, the electricity market has been completely unpredictable,” says Witowski.
Trying to find a solution for the situation on the energy market the largest alternative energy supplier Bohemia Energy has already ended in the Czech Republic. Last week the Děčín company Kolibřík Energy announced the end of gas and electric supplies as well. Some are ending soon for instance A-PLUS Energy for example which ends October 22.
The CEO of Brno transport, Miloš Havránek, expects that diesel, electricity, and gas will raise the cost for the carrier by more than 250 million crowns next year.
He says,” We have informed the city manager about this situation and we expect what opinion they will take. We proposed three solutions to the situation – an increase in fares, a reduction in transport performance or an increase in compensation from the city.”
In contrast, the Ostrava transport company says to expect an increase by 100 to 150 million crowns next year.
Daniel Morys, Chairman of the Board of Directors says, “We have a long-term strategy of buying energy on the stock exchange, we do not speculate on the purchase, which is why we are currently very sensitive to the increase in prices.”
The head of the Pilsen transport company, Jiří Ptáček, found something similar as they calculated the increase in costs next year to be 30 to 40 million crowns.
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