“The Cheapest Energy May Not Be the Best.” An Interview with Prof. Teplý on a Fair Energy Market and Consumer Protection

Energy literacy is difficult to define, yet its absence is very clearly reflected in household decision-making, says Prof. PhDr. Petr Teplý, Ph.D., Director of the Institute of Sustainable Finance at the Faculty of Finance and Accounting, Prague University of Economics and Business. In this interview, he explains why choosing an energy supplier is not only a matter of price, but also of market fairness, consumer protection, and households’ ability to make informed decisions.

1. In recent years, there has been much discussion about energy prices, consumer protection, and sustainability. You address these topics at the Institute of Sustainable Finance at the Faculty of Finance and Accounting, Prague University of Economics and Business. How are sustainable finance and household energy literacy connected? 

Very closely. Sustainability is not only about green investments or ESG reporting by large companies. It is also about the financial resilience of households and the quality of their everyday decision-making. This includes, for example, whether households understand energy prices, contractual terms and the related risks, and whether they have sufficient information to make responsible decisions – decisions that are consistent with their financial situation and risk preferences and that are economically and financially sustainable in the long term.
In my view, energy literacy is therefore a natural part of financial literacy. A household that does not understand its electricity or gas contract, the level of advance payments, the length of a fixed-price period, early termination penalties or the composition of the final energy price can easily choose an offer that may ultimately prove disadvantageous.

2. You often describe the Institute of Sustainable Finance (ISF) as the “ESG start-up of VŠE”. How is this approach reflected in the energy projects you work on? 

As early as 2023, I described the Institute of Sustainable Finance (ISF) as the “ESG start-up of VŠE” — a dynamic institute that connects academic ESG research with practical problems faced by companies, regulators, the state, and households. We do not want to conduct research only for the drawer; we want to deliver tools that can be used in practice. 

Energy is an ideal field in this respect. It is an economically important, socially sensitive, and regulatorily complex area with a major impact on sustainability. We therefore try to contribute to decision-making in the energy sector that is based on data and to making information understandable for consumers as well. 

3. One of your projects is Energy Compass 2026. What principle is it based on? 

Energy Compass 2026 is based on a simple idea: when choosing an energy supplier, it is not enough to look only at price. The lowest price does not automatically mean the best offer. In reality, a household faces several questions. What am I buying? Who am I buying it from? And how will the supplier take care of me when I need to resolve something? Energy Compass evaluates energy products across three pillars: Product, Supplier, and Customer Service. We will present its methodology and first results in more detail at the VŠE Energy Summit on 18 September 2026. 

4. How was the IPSOS consumer research reflected in the preparation of the methodology? 

The IPSOS research from June 2026 was important for us because we did not want to build the methodology solely as an expert desktop exercise. In cooperation with Savings Tech Lab s.r.o., we wanted to find out what consumers actually consider important when choosing an energy supplier. The results showed that price is, of course, essential, but it is not the only factor. The supplier’s financial health, the ability to handle matters via a website or mobile app, the existence of multiple communication channels, and the speed of customer service response also ranked very highly. This confirms that households no longer perceive an energy offer purely as a price per megawatt-hour, but also as a service and a relationship with the supplier. 

5. The second project is CONOS. What do you focus on within this project? 

CONOS is an interdisciplinary project focused on issues of inequality and an open society. From the perspective of our research, it is interesting because it makes it possible to connect economics, behavioural approaches, and experimental methods. 

In the area of energy literacy, I collaborate with Štěpán Bahník and Štěpán Šanda from the Faculty of Business Administration at VŠE and with Eva Horváthová from the Institute of Economic Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University. Together, we focus on how people actually work with information when making energy-related decisions. We are therefore not interested only in what people say in a questionnaire is important to them, but above all in how they actually decide in a specific choice situation when they are presented with different types of information, different formulations of contractual terms, or different forms of offer comparisons. 

The experimental approach allows us to test whether a certain form of information really helps consumers or, on the contrary, overwhelms them. A workshop on this topic will also take place on 17 September 2026 at the Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University. 

6. Can you give an example of a question such an experiment addresses? 

A typical question is: will a simple score, colour coding, or a clear summary of parameters help a household make a better decision? At the same time, we can observe whether people, despite additional information, continue to decide primarily based on the lowest price or a familiar brand. 

From a research perspective, it is very interesting to observe the difference between declared and actual choice. In questionnaires, people often say that they consider supplier stability, penalties, or service quality. In an experiment, however, we can test whether this information really influences their decision when it competes with price. 

7. How do these two projects, Energy Compass and CONOS, complement each other? 

Energy Compass is a practical tool and a product of contract research. It seeks to give consumers a simple framework: a good offer is not only a cheap offer, but a combination of a fair price, a stable supplier, and accessible service. CONOS, by contrast, helps us research and test how people understand information and how they respond to it. It is a product of basic research. One project therefore aims at methodology and practice, while the other aims at a deeper understanding of consumer decision-making. 

8. How does sustainability fit into this? Some might say that consumer protection is more of a social issue than an environmental one. 

I do not see sustainability merely as an environmental topic. In energy, environmental, social, and institutional aspects are strongly interconnected. Energy literacy is linked above all to market fairness, consumer protection, the quality of information, trust in institutions, and responsible supplier behaviour. 

If households do not understand the energy market, they may make unfavourable decisions. The energy transition will work in the long term only if it is not only technologically and economically feasible, but also understandable and trustworthy for households and companies. That is why I consider energy literacy an important part of the broader debate on sustainability. 

We have long developed this broader view of sustainability and ESG at ISF, for example at the 4th ESG Summit of the Faculty of Finance and Accounting at VŠE, which in June 2026 focused on the regulation of financial and energy markets in the context of ESG. 

9. What do you think the 2021–2022 energy crisis showed Czech households? 

Above all, that energy cannot be taken for granted. An electricity or gas contract is not merely an administrative document, but an economic decision with real impacts on the household budget. 

At the same time, it became clear that many people navigate the market through advance payments, refunds, or familiar brands, but not always through the actual price and contractual terms. This is not a criticism of consumers. The energy market is complex, and an ordinary household cannot constantly monitor all parameters. That is precisely why we need clear, trustworthy, and independent tools that make the choice easier. 

10. What role should VŠE play in these topics? 

VŠE should offer an independent expert platform. We have the ability to connect academic quality with practical relevance. That is exactly the role a university should play in the field of sustainability and societal challenges. ISF seeks to be a place where academia, the private sector, and public administration meet — applying the triple helix principle. Energy, finance, and ESG are not separate worlds; on the contrary, they are increasingly interconnected. VŠE is very well positioned to bring data, analytical methods, economic context, and an independent expert perspective to this debate. 

11. And personally — why do you enjoy this topic? 

Because energy connects several worlds that have long interested me: finance, risk, regulation, sustainability, and the practical impact of research. And also because the outcome can be understandable even to someone outside academia. 

I also do not see sustainability and ESG only as a research or professional topic, but as something very personal. I try to explain it naturally to my school-age children, Sandra and Jirka — for example, through how we save energy at home, why we think about consumption, or why it is important to understand where energy comes from and how much it really costs. That is precisely why I enjoy energy literacy. It is not an abstract academic concept, but a topic that is reflected in the everyday life of households. 

This interview with Ing. Petra Jílková, Ph.D., was also published as part of the Research News section on the VŠE website.