Press releases pg. 127

Total year-on-year increase in wholesale prices is 16.87 %. Baseload price in the second auction is 19.5 % higher. Thanks to the offer of other products for pre-determined prices, the final average price increase is by 2.6 % lower, i.e. 16,87 %. The first auction of the CEZ's generation- the virtuall power plant - held in the beginning of August generated prices on the level of 17.1 % year-on-year increase.

After the first wholesale electricity offer for 2007 in the "Virtual Power Plant" auction, CEZ is now continuing to offer another electricity volume and other wholesale products. The price of the most important product band supplies for the next year will be determined by the traders themselves in the auction again. This auction is not imposed on CEZ by the UOHS (Office of Fair Trading), but it is a voluntary action of CEZ.

The CEZ Group reached the net profit of 16,433 million CZK for the first half of this year, which constitutes growth by almost 41 per cent as against last year. The increase results from the rise of trade margin, growth of the volume of sold and distributed electricity by almost one third, cost savings due to integration of CEZ Group and extension of the Group by the Romanian distribution firm Electrica Oltenia and recently by two Polish power plants (they affected the results only with one month). Also the first foreign acquisition of CEZ Group involving three Bulgarian distribution companies shows improved results. While revenues have grown, CEZ managed to keep the fixed costs under control.

The winning bids for single units are from 16.4 % to 18 % up on this year´s wholesale electricity price. The average electricity price from the "Virtual Power Plant" auction for 2007 increased by 17.1 % in comparison to this year´s price and by 18.5 % compared to the virtual power plant prices in the previous year. The annual band price for 2007 amounts to roughly 1,220 CZK/MWh.