Court says special grid fees in Slovakia are unconstitutional

The Constitutional Court in Slovakia yesterday ruled that the special grid fee introduced at the start of 2014 for power generators in the country, including solar power systems, is unconstitutional.

The government has collected from clean energy producers about EUR 72 million (USD 82m) of payments under the so-called G-tariff or G-component over two years, Slovakian broadsheet SME said on its website, citing figures by the Slovak photovoltaic industry association (SAPI).

The ruling means that generators that do not have a signed contract for access to the grid do not have to pay the fee. What is more, they can get back the payments they have made over the past two years, SAPI said in a press release.

When introducing the G-tariff, the Slovakian Regulation Office for Network Industries (RONI) claimed it was simply a means to share the costs of developing and maintaining the grid with power generators too. The special levy, which applied for reserved capacity on the transmission or distribution system, was set at roughly EUR 20,000 per MW, valid for all power generators.

Members of parliament, energy sector companies and SAPI have been fighting against the measure since its introduction.

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