STA, 7 March 2022 - After media reports that fuel prices will go up significantly tomorrow, queues formed at service stations around the country. Some stations even temporarily ran out of diesel fuel. According to the newspaper Finance, the price of diesel could reach a new record tomorrow, at EUR 1.65 a litre. PM Janez Janša said there was no need to panic.

Oil prices had been going up even before Russia attacked Ukraine but they had been rising even faster since, also because of sanctions imposed on Russia and fears of disruption to the supply chains.

The announcement that the US and European countries may impose a ban on oil imports from Russia pushed them even further up.

In Slovenia, petrol prices have been gradually rising for several weeks and currently stand between EUR 1.45 and EUR 1.50 per litre.

Finance has calculated, using a formula that had been used to calculate prices until autumn 2020, when the market was liberalised, that the price of diesel could jump to around EUR 1.65 per litre tomorrow, a record, so filling a 50-litre tank would cost almost EUR 10 more.

The price of regular is expected to go up to just over EUR 1.55.

Janša wrote on Twitter tonight that Slovenia had enough fuel supplies so there would be no shortages. "Moreover, in case of radical increase of retail prices the government will take addition mitigation measures. There is no need to panic."

The biggest fuel retailer in the country, Petrol, said there had been increased demand at its stations around the country this afternoon, especially for diesel. It said this was the "consequence of an exaggerated response of consumers to alarming media reports of expected fuel price hikes because of the situation on the global markets".

Subsequently, some smaller stations even ran out of diesel fuel, but Petrol said additional supply had been provided and that no disruptions were expected tomorrow either.

Petrol told the STA the prices of energy on global markets had been volatile and unpredictable as it is, and Russia's current military activities in Ukraine created even more insecurity. The prices of fuel on global markets have already gone up and everyone will feel the consequences. "Because of these factors it is impossible to forecast the movement of retail prices," Petrol said.

A similar response came from OMV Slovenija, which said its supply had not been disrupted today and that the Slovenian market had sufficient supplies of fuel.

The government confirmed a EUR 200 million package of aid for households and companies to mitigate energy-price hikes at the end of January, also including lower excise duties on heating oil and petrol. The measure entered into force on 1 February and will be in place until the end of April. The government said the excise duties had been reduced to the lowest possible level.

For petrol it currently stands at EUR 0.35901 per litre and for diesel at EUR 0.330.

STA, 29 January 2022 - The government has confirmed a EUR 200 million package of aid for households and companies to mitigate energy-price hikes. An EUR 106 million energy voucher scheme for households will be coupled with aid for companies and farmers worth EUR 70 million, lower network fees for electricity, and lower excise duties on heating oil and petrol.

The electricity network fee will be waived for three months starting on 1 February, with excise duties on electricity, heating oil and petrol being cut to the lowest permissible level, Prime Minister Janez Janša told the press after Saturday's government session.

Electricity excise will be halved, whereas fuel excise duties will be reduced by about two cents per litre for regular petrol, five cents for diesel, eight cents for heating oil and one cent per cubic metre of natural gas.

As a result of these waivers and cuts, Janša estimates electricity bills will go down by 30-35%.

Energy vouchers, worth EUR 150, will be available to about 710,000 beneficiaries, including recipients of income support and welfare, recipients of child support with income of up to EUR 680 per person, pensioners with under EUR 1,000 in pensions, the disabled, and large families. Families with four or more children will get an extra EUR 50 on top.

One-off aid will be available to an estimated 17,500 companies and 41,000 farms. The payments will depend on company or farm size and energy intensity, according to Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek.

Among companies, those with at least five employees and whose energy expenditure accounted for at least 5% of revenue in 2019 or at least EUR 10,000 will be eligible.

Companies must apply for aid with the Financial Administration and will receive the money by 20 April.

"We are confident this will help until prices ease off," Počivalšek said.

The energy vouchers and aid to companies and farms comes in a new bill that must be passed by parliament. The other measures are in the form of direct government decrees.

The aid comes after energy prices have soared in recent months in lockstep with surging global prices.

Companies in particular have for weeks beseeched the government to step in, warning that the current level of prices risked putting many energy-intensive industries out of business.

STA, 12 January 2022 - The government has adopted amendments to the mining act under which low-volume hydraulic fracturing would be allowed but high-volume fracturing banned, legislation that paves the way for fracturing in the only location in Slovenia where it is currently being explored, the Petišovci gas field in the east.

The only permitted type of hydraulic fracturing would be the kind where less than 1,000 m3 of water is injected per fracturing phase, with the total amount of water injected in the entire process capped at 10,000 m3, according to amendments adopted on Tuesday evening.

All compounds used in the process - the injected water is typically mixed with different chemicals to make the process more efficient - would have to be identified and permitted in Slovenia.

The fracturing well would have to be located, constructed and tested for sealing in a manner that would prevent pollutants from leaking.

Fracturing may not result in two water bodies coming into contact, or fluids being mixed in different geological layers. Drilling would have to be done vertically, with a maximum deviation of 10 degrees.

The bill – of which hydraulic fracturing is only a part - was adopted just a day after a rival bill that would have banned hydraulic fracturing altogether was to be discussed on committee.

The ban, proposed by three centre-left parties, is the fifth attempt spearheaded by the Left to introduce a blanket ban on fracking.

Left leader Luka Mesec said today the government bill would allow the UK firm Ascent Resources to continue extracting gas in Petišovci under the pretext that this would only constitute a small-scale operation.

"The government is showing its true face yet again: it does not care about the country, the people or the environment, all it cares about is dirty business," Mesec said.

The government bill was first announced almost exactly a year ago.

STA, 5 January 2021 - Slovenian companies have been sounding the alarm over high electricity prices for months, warning that production may become unviable for energy-intensive industries. One company, the fish processing firm Delamaris, has decided to suspend production for a week to weather the price spike.

Delamaris shifted collective leave from the last week of December to the first week of January, a move that Janez Rebec, the chairman of the parent company Pivka-Delamaris, says is a direct consequence of high electricity prices.

"Electricity has become drastically more expensive, going from EUR 70 per MWh to EUR 400 per MWh in December," he told the STA. "This took everyone by surprise." The price has since dropped and Rebec said it was now two and a half times what it had been.

Rebec told Delo newspaper that most food processing companies were in a similar position and would be forced to raise prices just to survive. He expects the company will shift higher prices onto consumers as of March.

The news comes amidst warnings by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry that the high electricity prices are untenable. It said in late December that forward prices for 2022 had exceeded 2021 levels by up to a factor of six.

The organisation has called on the government to take action, but Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek recently said that there was little scope for action save for a ban on the export of electricity, a comment that earned him sharp criticism from energy experts.

Commentators have pointed out that the government has several tools at its disposal, in particular reductions on the VAT rate and excise duties.

STA, 21 December 2021 - Plans to build up to 30 wind turbines next to a sole one already standing on a plateau that is part of the iconic Kras region in south-western Slovenia have met with opposition from the locals with both municipalities involved set to veto the project.

"The municipality has not given its opinion yet, but it will certainly follow the will of the people living in the area," Sežana Mayor David Škabar told the STA on Monday as the plans for a wind farm on Griško Polje were presented to the locals.

The investors, AAE Gamit and AAE Ventur, are planning to build 14 wind turbines in four wind fields measuring a total of 698 hectares, each with a rated capacity of 4.2 MW or a combined 58.8 MW. Each unit is to comprise a tower measuring between 150 and 200 metres in height, and a rotor with a diameter of between 115 and 1805 metres.

However, this is only part of the project that extends into the Sežana municipality, with further turbines planned in the section of the area that is part of the neighbouring Divača municipality.

The regional newspaper Primorske Novice reported just days ago that the two investors, none of which has any employees, planned to build 25 wind turbines on Griško Polje in a project valued at more than EUR 140 million.

According to the report, the Environment Ministry has already published a notice on a public initiative to draw up a national zoning plan for the two wind fields on Griško Polje one near Veliko Polje and one near Dolenja Vas. Construction was to start in the summer of 2025, and by the end of the year the farm was to be connected to the grid.

However, the presentation of the plan yesterday showed the local community opposes the project with Sežana Mayor saying wind turbines were not planned in the local zoning act as major new projects such as wind or solar plants could "devalue" the Kras region.

A woman living close to the solitary wind turbine on Griško Polje, which can be seen from the A1 motorway to the coast, said the noise was so bad her family could not sleep and had health issues. "If the noise of a single turbine is so disturbing what would 30 such mean that they plan to erect," she wondered.

Members of farming communities where the wind farm would be located do not oppose the project, thus the local community fears the project could divide the population.

Environment and infrastructure ministry officials told the meeting the main reason to build new wind power plants was to increase the share of renewables in Slovenia's energy mix in line with the commitment made to the EU.

As part of the procedure to adopt the national zoning plan for the project, guidelines will also be provided by the Divača municipality. These are set to be negative as the community already decided back in 2004 it was against wind farms on its territory. The residents of Senožeče have also voted no in a local referendum.

STA, 9 December - Amid rising energy prices, the government and the centre-left opposition are working on separate proposals to help the most vulnerable households with energy vouchers. The Infrastructure Ministry has indicated those could be available in the first quarter of 2022.

Energy prices are soaring across the EU, affecting companies as well as households where the biggest concern currently is hikes in the cost of heating, in particularly distance heating powered by natural gas or coal.

The Infrastructure Ministry has told the STA a legal basis for energy vouchers is being drafted. "As we expect prices for final consumers to rise mainly in heating, in the first quarter of next year, it makes sense to introduce the measure then, when the end users will need it the most."

Unofficially, 66,000 poorest families are to be eligible for the vouchers.

Meanwhile, the opposition Social Democrats (SD), Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), Left and the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) are finalising their bill on energy vouchers, which they plan to table on Monday.

Under the current draft, one out of six citizens would be eligible for EUR 150 vouchers. The EUR 25 million required is to be secured from the Climate Fund.

Presenting the proposal to reporters on Thursday, SD MP Franc Trček said they had made several appeals to the government over the past two months to tackle the aggravating energy poverty.

LMŠ deputy Edvard Paulič criticised Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec for his assessment in October that the energy market situation was stable. Instead the MP cited official statistics showing heating oil went up by about 44% in a year, fuel by 40% and power by 15% in what he said was the biggest hike in the EU.

Nataša Sukič of the Left said roughly 240,000 people faced the threat of "their radiators and furnaces being turned off because they cannot buy heating oil".

Solutions are also being sought at the local level. The Maribor city council has approved a plan to subsidise the cost of distance heating for households after the local utility hiked up prices by 120% year-on-year.

A survey by the Energy Agency focusing on nine Slovenian municipalities where almost 70% of the population gets their heating from distance systems has shown the cost for typical retail consumer has gone up by about 40% in a year.

STA, 29 November 2021 - The rising prices of energy in wholesale markets are already affecting retail prices of distance heating. In November, the costs of distance heating were up by 38% on average. It was the most expensive in Maribor and the cheapest in Celje, shows a survey by the Energy Agency [Agencija za energijo].

In nine Slovenian municipalities - Ljubljana, Maribor, Kranj, Celje, Slovenj Gradec, Velenje, Jesenice, Ravne na Koroškem and Trbovlje - the average retail price of heating for a typical household in a multi-apartment building with the average annual consumption of 6.21 megawatt hours rose by 38% to EUR 118 in November in year-on-year comparison, the agency says on its website.

The price of heating went up the most in municipalities where the main source of energy is gas or coal.

According to the agency, the rising price of heat from distribution systems, which are predominantly gas-fired, is mainly driven by new contract prices for this source of energy source and by monthly purchases of missing carbon dioxide emission allowances. Meanwhile, the price of heat from distribution systems whose primary fuel is coal is most affected by high prices for emission allowances.

In November, the biggest annual surge was recorded in Marbor and Jesenice (by 77%), and in Trbovlje (by 43%).

In Maribor, the retail price of heat also went up by 18% in monthly comparison. At EUR 173.54 per megawatt hour, it is the highest among all nine municipalities included in the survey. Jesenice follows with EUR 166.18, which remained flat compared to October.

In Jesenice, the authorities agreed last week to reduce the variable part of the price for November and December by EUR 15, while talks on other solutions are under way as well.

In Celje, the price remains stable and the lowest, at EUR 83.75 per megawatt hour. The agency says this is mainly because a significant share of heat is obtained from waste processing and wood biomass.

The Energy Chamber warns that the state must be prudent when introducing measures for mitigating the negative effects of energy prices both for households and companies. There must be no interfering with market mechanism, the chamber said after Friday's session of its managing board.

The measures for mitigating the effects of energy price hikes must be introduced as soon as possible, as operations of certain companies are already seriously in danger, the chamber said, noting that distance heating systems were under big financial pressure.

"Short-term measures to mitigate the energy market situation must be targeted and temporary and must not affect the functioning of the market as a whole and the long-term competitiveness and investment capital of energy companies, which is key to the green transition to a climate-neutral society," the chamber stressed.

At the same time, the measures should help maintain the competitiveness of energy-intensive industries, especially those that have already made significant efforts to improve energy efficiency.

The chamber believes the state could also use the Climate Change Fund to cover the extraordinary costs of large energy-intensive industrial consumers who have contracts with domestic electricity producers.

The chamber also stressed that the current situation was ideal for all stakeholders to focus on longer-term measures, which could include investing in sufficient capacity or building new power generation units, including nuclear power generation units, and in all available renewable energy sources, as well as in the energy recovery from waste.

STA, 20 October 2021 - The government reintroduced administered pricing of heating oil by issuing a regulation on the pricing of petroleum products at Wednesday's correspondence session. The distributors' margin has been limited to a maximum of six cents per litre of heating oil.

Pricing will be based on the prescribed methodology as the average 14-day price of the current period, says a press release by the Government Communication Office.

The first day of the average 14-day selling price of the current period, without duties, will be the period from 25 October to 5 November, and the first day of regulated prices kicking in will therefore be 9 November.

The government has decided for the same format of administered pricing of heating oil as in the period before liberalisation of heating oil prices in April 2016.

The possibility of such a move was floated by Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek on Tuesday in the wake of escalating energy prices.

The government paid special attention to heating oil price trends due to the upcoming heating season. The retail price of heating oil in the second half of this year has exceeded the 1 euro mark, with a litre already costing EUR 1.10 in October. Taxes and levies have remained unchanged.

A thorough analysis of the situation in the oil product market following last year's liberalisation of oil product prices has found that the market is functioning in Slovenia, the Economy Ministry said, adding that none of the companies had been standing out significantly price-wise.

Price increases are not disproportionate to the international environment or to prices in the industry, the ministry said.

The government decided to reintroduce administered pricing of heating oil in the evening after it got acquainted with a report by a task force to contain energy prices.

In the afternoon, during a regular session, the government discussed potential measures limited to proposals identified as acceptable by the European Commission. Guidelines on state aids were also taken into consideration.

On Monday, Prime Minister Janez Janša announced concrete measures after the EU summit starting on Thursday. The topic will also be discussed next week by EU ministers in charge of energy.

Janša mentioned regulating margins on energy prices and energy vouchers for households at risk as two possible options.

STA, 20 October 2021 - The average electricity prices for households increased slightly in the first half of the year at the EU level compared to the same period in 2020 to EUR 21.9 per 100 kilowatt hours, with the largest increase recorded in Slovenia, Eurostat has reported.

The electricity prices for households increased in 16 member states, topped by Slovenia with a 15% rise, followed by Poland (8%) and Romania (7%).

On the other hand, the largest decreases were observed in the Netherlands (-10%), Cyprus (-7%) and Lithuania (-6%).

The household electricity prices in the first half of 2021 were the lowest in Hungary (EUR 10 per 100 kWh), and the highest in Germany (EUR 31.9). In Slovenia, it was EUR 16.62.

The average natural gas prices meanwhile registered a slight drop to EUR 6.4 per 100 kWh in the first half of 2021, as they fell in 20 of the 23 EU member states that report gas prices in the household sector. Slovenia recorded a drop of 7%.

The prices were the lowest in Lithuania (EUR 2.8 per 100 kWh) and the highest in the Netherlands (EUR 9.6). For comparison, the average gas price in Slovenia in the first half of the year was EUR 5.47 per 100 kWh.

STA, 16 October 2021 - After Slovenia's largest energy company Petrol announced earlier this week that it will increase the price of electricity in December, some predicted that other suppliers would follow, but most suppliers now forecast that their prices of electricity for households would not increase until next year.

However, most companies also said that increases could very well happen in 2022, as purchase prices of electricity are rising, having increased by more than 200% on international markets in the last year.

Gen-I, Slovenia's largest electricity supplier with over 190,000 customers across Slovenia, told the STA that prices for their existing customers were to remain unchanged for now.

The same was said by ECE, the company created in a merger of Elektro Celje and Elektro Gorenjska, of which a 51% share was recently acquired by Holding Slovenske Elektrarne (HSE), the state-owned power company and the country's largest producer of electricity from renewable sources.

"Prices will remain the same this year, but we will be forced to increase them next year, unless there is a significant reduction in prices on the upstream markets," said ECE.

The Ljubljana-based Elektro Energija with more than 140,000 customers and Maribor's Energija Plus, which supplies electricity to more than 120,000 customers, do not plan to raise electricity tariffs this year either.

"However, given the recent increases in energy prices on global markets, which are at historic highs, it is realistic to expect a correction in electricity and natural gas prices in the future," they said.

This year has seen a sharp rise in energy prices predicted for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Electricity prices depend on many factors, including weather, carbon prices, supply, demand and political uncertainty.

The marginal price of electricity production has recently started to rise sharply and in early October, it exceeded the price of EUR 180 per megawatt-hour for next year in Hungary, the reference market for Slovenia.

According to current projections, the final amount on the electricity bill of the average consumer could be around 20% higher after the increase.

Energija Plus added that future prices would largely depend on other energy products, the availability of renewables, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the capacities of natural gas storage facilities in Europe and winter temperatures.

Reactions and debates on this matter followed Petrol's announcement on Tuesday that it will increase the price of electricity by 30% from December. The final bill for the average household customer is expected to rise by just over 10%.

The issue of the rising energy prices on world markets was also brought to the attention of the government this week. They explained that the situation in the markets was abnormal and the result of several different factors.

The Infrastructure Ministry has taken note of the proposals for action presented by the European Commission, which they deemed not needed in Slovenia as of yet. However, Slovenia has convened an emergency meeting of EU energy ministers for 26 October.