The Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) has approved Sokolovské uhelné’s plan to buy T-Watt.
“Competitors are merging mainly in wholesale electricity and providing energy management consulting for local distribution network operators. During the administrative proceedings, the Office found that the said concentration would not result in a significant distortion of competition, “the Office stated.
Sokolovská uhelná was founded in 1994 by the National Property Fund, which was created by merging the Vřesová Fuel Combine, Březová Brown Coal Mines, and Sokolov Reclamation. In 2004, the company was privatized, and the successor organization Sokolovská uhelná was established, the legal successor of the company’s full name.
It is the smallest lignite mining company in the Czech Republic. Its share is around 15 percent. The company’s activities include coal mining and processing and the production of electricity or heat, which supplies more than a third of the population of the Karlovy Vary region. The company also operates in the disposal of waste generated by industrial activities. In 2019, it reported a loss of almost 331 million crowns related to the pressure to stop using coal and its mining. Up to 1,000 people have to leave Sokolovská uhelná due to mining restrictions.
T-Watt was founded in 2014 and, in the first two years of its existence, traded 4,000 GWh of electricity with a turnover of over 100 million euros (over 2.6 billion crowns). The company’s executives are Petr Šedivý and Jan Prádler, the billionaire Martin Ulčák was also the owner until his death last April.