Slovakia widens its list of vulnerable customers: common areas of apartment blocks join from 2027

Slovakia's government approved at its meeting on 28 October the regulation defining vulnerable electricity and gas customers, Energie-portal.sk reported on 2 November. The main novelty is a new category: owners of flats and non-residential premises in apartment blocks, represented by an owners' association or a building manager, for electricity used in the building's common parts and installations.

What was decided. According to the Noviny.sk portal, citing the Government Office, the new category will not be treated as vulnerable until the end of 2026 and applies from 1 January 2027, giving the regulator and suppliers time to prepare. Still vulnerable are households, small non-household customers with annual consumption of up to 30,000 kWh of electricity or 100,000 kWh of gas, social service facilities, apartment blocks with social rental flats, and energy used for heating and hot water in apartment blocks.

Why now. The amendment to the Energy Act No. 116/2026, passed by the National Council on 2 June and in force since 1 July, moved the definition of a vulnerable customer from the law into a government regulation. The Ministry of Economy says the new text keeps the scope of the previous rules for the sake of continuity and predictability. Vulnerable status sets the rules for price regulation but does not automatically entitle anyone to the state energy aid (energopomoc), which has its own conditions.

The numbers. The regulator ÚRSO has already issued the first gas price decisions for 2027. For Energetika Slovensko, the second-largest household gas supplier after SPP, the rate is €0.0396/kWh in all tariff groups plus €1.50 a month per supply point, while the commodity index falls to €0.03327/kWh from €0.03722/kWh in 2026. The prices matter mainly for households that will be outside energopomoc in 2027, for whom they will be almost 10% lower than now, according to Energie-portal.sk.

The country's real-time data are on the country page.