<ul>
<li>Act No. 251/2012 Coll. on Energy establishes the core legal framework governing Slovakia’s energy sector, including conditions for business activities, market access, and the rights and obligations of participants in electricity and gas markets, while ensuring security of supply and the functioning of the internal energy market. The Act transposes EU energy legislation by promoting market liberalisation, unbundling of energy activities, and strengthening consumer protection and regulatory oversight. Recent amendments, particularly Act No. 259/2025 Coll., significantly modernise this framework by aligning it with evolving EU rules and decarbonisation goals, introducing new provisions for electricity sharing among consumers, greater transparency obligations for network operators, and support for integrating renewable energy through flexible grid connections. The reform also expands the regulatory framework to include hydrogen markets, enhances risk management and consumer rights in energy supply contracts, and introduces new mechanisms related to system flexibility, methane emissions, and market-based support schemes, reflecting a transition toward a more decentralised, digitalised, and low-carbon energy system.</li>
</ul>

 Act 251/2012 Coll. on Energy, amended by Act 259/2025 - (Act on Energy)

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Act No. 251/2012 Coll. on Energy and on change of certain acts

Amended/Updated

Slovakia

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A loan is a policy instrument where funds are provided to a borrower with the expectation of repaying the principal plus interest.

A subsidy is a direct or indirect payment to individuals or businesses, typically provided as a government cash payment or a specific tax reduction.

Compulsory, required payments to the government that are levied more-or-less in proportion to the services provided. Fees and charges range from entrance fees to national parks, charges on land-based sewage discharge.

Codes and standards are regulatory instruments that specify minimum standards to protect health and safety. This ranges from performance standards, which prescribe outcomes while allowing flexibility to achieve compliance, to the more prescriptive approach of technology-specific standards.

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

An integrated system of hazard monitoring, forecasting and prediction, that enables individuals, communities, governments, businesses and others to take timely action to reduce disaster risks in advance of hazardous events.

Aligning the skills of the workforce with the requirements of the just transition.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Actions to adapt human health, healthcare systems and well-being to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Social protection systems consist of policies that help people manage social risks in order to prevent poverty and maintain decent incomes and living standards

Energy derived from biological compounds that are renewable due to their short life cycle within the carbon dioxide cycle.

Production of electricity and heat from solar irradiation.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

Work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for all, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity.

People whose health, both mental and physical, makes them more vulnerable to the effects of climate change

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

This sector provides communication services, software development, and IT solutions.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

Activities of businesses and institutions that provide financial services and products to individuals and organisations.

This sector provides medical services, manufactures medical equipment, and develops pharmaceuticals to maintain and improve health.

the fair distribution of risks and opportunities of climate change and the transition to a regenerative economy, cognisant in particular of disproportionate impacts on vulnerable communities and the working class

Procedural justice means ensuring that decision making is safe, transparent and inclusive, emphasizing the agency and influence of vulnerable groups and those most impacted.

Climate change can have a range of impacts on technological system. Extreme weather events can cause infrastructure failures like power outages or damage to roads and bridges, as well as the impacts from waste following natural disasters. Human activities also cause technological impacts, such as the risks posed by oil spillage and leaks.

The principle aim of the law is to implement the provisions of the EU Third Energy Package into national legislation. The Energy Act introduces the obligation to unbundle energy generation and supply from transmission services. The law strengthens consumer rights and gives new competences to the independent national energy regulator. 
 
In order to foster liberalisation and transparency of the market in electricity and gas, this Act lays down: 
- business conditions of the energy sector 
- marketing, rights and obligations of participants of the energy market 
- measures to ensure security of the supply of electrical energy and gas and functioning of the internal market of electrical energy and the internal gas market 
- rights and obligations of persons whose rights and obligations may be affected by participants of the market of energy sector 
- competences of state administration 
- state supervision and control of the business in the energy sector.

Act No. 251/2012 Coll. on Energy and on change of certain acts

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Climate justice

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance