Mgr. Radka Vladyková is a graduate of the Metropolitan University Prague with a degree in European Studies and Public Administration, which she has been pursuing in her professional life. She has served as the Mayor of Jesenice, and since 2019, she has been the Executive Director of the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic. She successfully represents the interests of local governments and conveys the expert opinions of mayors.
Cities, towns and villages are the public administration entities closest to citizens. Services for citizens also require strong partners. What is your cooperation with ČEZ ESCO?
ČEZ ESCO is a long-standing partner of the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic. At our regional meetings, conferences and assemblies, we always advise mayors on how to ensure and finance the reduction of energy consumption in buildings, install renewable energy sources, etc. We also cooperate on other topics related to energy. As an example, I can cite an experience from last autumn. We probably remember the chaos with the purchase of energy for towns and municipalities. At first, the government kept promising to supply energy to cities, towns and villages through the so-called state trader. Many mayors relied on the government’s promise and waited to secure energy supplies for 2023. When the government announced that the institute of a state trader would not be established, everyone had very little time to get their bearings in the energy market. That is when ČEZ ESCO offered a helping hand, and almost overnight, a quick methodology for municipalities on how to buy energy was created. By the time the ministries sent out a similar methodology, most municipalities had secured energy for 2023.
You have served as mayor, and today, you are the executive director of the Union. What are the energy challenges facing local government these days?
Reducing the energy performance of buildings is a long-standing topic. Similarly, the need for renewable energy installations has long been debated. However, we still lack the necessary legislation that would enable the energy produced in a community or municipality to be shared with other entities. The deterioration in the energy supply situation became apparent to everyone almost two years ago after the collapse of Bohemia Energy and then after the beginning of the armed conflict in Ukraine.
A significant theme for the coming period will be to reshape the functioning of municipalities as resilient entities that can ensure their governance very effectively, even in times of adversity. We will be setting up the self-sustainability and self-sufficiency of municipalities and regions, both in energy supply and in the area of municipal financing, efficient waste disposal and the provision of public services. This is a great challenge for all in municipal leadership, which will increasingly lead back to the roots and way of life of our ancestors in the most important essence of the human community — we must learn to cooperate effectively and support each other again.
Nowadays, energy savings are not only a necessity; they are becoming a challenge. How can cooperation with ČEZ ESCO be beneficial for municipalities?
They can offer a complete solution that does not need to be prefunded by the municipality — from the initial audit to the final implementation with facilities management. The municipality can have the power generation, storage and provision of, for example, electric car chargers. Not every mayor is also an energy expert, so a reliable partner and advisor is always welcome.
Smart solutions are often about finance, which is usually in short supply. How do local governments feel about possible partnerships in projects with the private sector, and can you mention a specific project?
This method of financing the development of cities, towns and villages is not very common in our country at the moment. This may be due to several factors. One of them is undoubtedly the relatively generous source of funding from the European Union. It is a big question whether and to what extent this money will be available to our country after 2027 when the current programming period ends. Municipal and city leaders are already slowly looking for funding in the form of PPP – public-private partnership. Like everything, this method has a number of disadvantages but also a large number of advantages. A few of them can be mentioned. One clear advantage is that the public sector does not need to have enough money to implement a project at the outset, as the private contractor will provide the funds. This contractor will also implement and operate the investment. The quality of the work delivered is, therefore, undoubtedly a great advantage. The private contractor is very well placed to ensure this, as it will commit to carrying out the given project under predetermined conditions for a number of years, usually 15–20.
One of the forms of linking public and private money are the so-called EPC (Energy Performance Contracting) projects. The private sector audits a building or site, prepares a project to reduce its energy consumption, implements it and pays for it, and the customer pays back the money from the energy savings. ČEZ ESCO provides consulting and implementation services for municipalities in this area as well.
Thank you for the interview.
