Prague, Feb 7 (CTK) – Czech courts decided that several solar plants were granted the licence for their operation unlawfully, but the state has not demanded the return of the subsidies that the plants received without being entitled to them, daily Lidove noviny (LN) writes yesterday.
When a law made the solar plant business very profitable thanks to state subsidies that were temporarily set too high in the Czech Republic, many entrepreneurs sought to launch the operation of solar plants by the end of 2010, the deadline after which the subsidies were markedly lowered. In a number of cases fraudulent practices were used to meet the deadline.
Courts ruled in eight cases that solar plant operators had no right to receive the high subsidies.
In spite of this, the Czech state has neither been able to calculate the sum that was paid out to the fraudulent operators, nor has it identified the body that should be demanding the debt from them, the paper writes.
“Several tens and even hundreds of millions of crowns were paid out, which they (the operators) should return to the state,” Czech Energy Regulatory Office (ERU) head Alena Vitaskova said.
The subsidies for renewable energy sources have been covered from the state budget and from special fees that households and firms pay within their electricity bills.
The state has been dealing with dozens of cases concerning solar plants, but none of them is related to the return of subsidies given to plants whose licences were declared invalid, LN writes.
The Office for Government Representation in Property Affairs (UZSVM) is “ready to defend the interests of the state if an authorised state body addresses it with a concrete debt,” its spokesman Radek Lezatka said, adding that this has not happened yet.
In late 2013, the ERU announced that it sent the country’s top state attorney the names of 120 solar plants that might have been granted licences, although they did not meet the conditions set. In reaction, the Supreme State Attorney’s Office filed 22 administrative complaints. Eight of the cases have resulted in withdrawal of the licence.
Vitaskova said the ERU cannot demand the return of the subsidies because it suffered no harm. She said this job should be done by the Industry and Trade Ministry.
However, the ministry claims that this is the task of the UVSZM.
Deputy Industry Minister Lenka Kovacovska said it addressed the UVSZM on this issue, but the UVSZM dismissed it.
A working group including representatives of the above institutions and the Finance Ministry has been set up, yet no apparent progress has been seen so far, the paper writes.
