Final Word from Thursday, October 21, 2021
Andrej Babiš complains that the timing of Pandora Papers was no coincidence. What about the timing of the shutdown of Jiří Písařík's Bohemia Energy? On election day, Oct. 8, ČEZ announced a price increase for new customers. The reason, it said, was the need to secure the necessary capacity for those leaving their providers and looking for a stable alternative. Five days later, on Oct. 13, Bohemia Energy shut down. On Oct. 18, CEO Daniel Beneš of ČEZ told HN that it is possible that Bohemia Energy had bought electricity from ČEZ that it could now sell back to it at a higher market price. Písařík's Amper Market is indeed now unloading Bohemia Energy's leftover energy. Far from going bust, Písařík seems to be making a mint. The suspicion is that he broke contracts with low-paying customers to sell his pre-contracted electricity at a much higher rate, leaving his customers and the state holding the bag. The Bohemia Papers question is what Babiš and Beneš knew, and when they knew it. [ Czech Republic parliamentary elections Hospodářské noviny MFD Mladá fronta ]
Glossary of difficult words
to unload - to get rid of (something unwanted);
to make a mint - to make a large sum of money;
to be left holding the bag - to be left responsible for something, often in an unfair way because other people fail or refuse to take responsibility.