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Press Release
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                                                                January 22, 2003

        Extraordinary General Meeting of CEZ - Sale of the Nachod Heating
                                     Plant

The Board of Directors of CEZ has convened an  Extraordinary  General Meeting to
be held on February 24, 2003.  Notice of the  Extraordinary  General Meeting was
published  today  (January 22, 2003) in  Hospodarske  Noviny.  The agenda of the
meeting primarily  includes the approval of a proposal for the sale of a portion
of the business of the Nachod  Heating  Plant  (NHP).  Also on the agenda is the
removal and election of the company's  Directors,  except those to be elected by
employees of the business.

The bid made by Harpen CR,  s.r.o.,  with a value of CZK 172  million,  has been
selected  as the best bid in a CEZ  tender  for the sale of the  Nachod  Heating
Plant and on the basis of the recommendation of an adviser.

A draft agreement on the sale of a portion of the business of the NHP, including
an expert report on the review of the draft agreement,  was deposited on January
21, 2003 in the collection of documents which is part of the Commercial Register
and has been available for inspection by all the  shareholders in the registered
office of CEZ until today.

There were several reasons  leading CEZ to decide on the sale. The  step-by-step
opening of not only the domestic but also the European-wide  electricity  market
marks  for  CEZ  the  necessity  to  change  its  focus  from  a   predominantly
manufacturing company to a commercial and manufacturing company. This process is
closely  tied to the  concentration  of the  company's  activities  to its  core
business - electricity generation and the provision of related services - and an
optimization  of the  source  portfolio  with  which to  stand up to the  strong
competition in the Central European region.

Another reason is the necessity of permanent  increases in the  productivity  of
labor, requiring a focus on the decisive power generating facilities,  and these
include  neither the Nachod Heating Plant nor another heating plant of CEZ - the
Dvur Kralove  Heating  Plant.  Power supply from each of these heating plants is
largely a by-product of heat  generation  and accounts for less than 0.1% of the
total power  supply from CEZ.  Also,  the sale fully fits in with the  strategic
plan of CEZ.

For the reasons  set out above,  CEZ held a tender last year for the sale of the
Nachod Heating Plant (NHP) and the Dvur Kralove  Heating Plant (DKHP) to be sold
as a portion of a business within the meaning of Sections 67a and 476 et seq. of
the Commercial Code. The tender was



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CEZ, a. s., Duhova 2/1444, 140 53 Praha 4
telefon 02 / 71 13 23 83
www.cez.cz, www.duhovaenergie.cz                                        str. 1/2



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arranged via an adviser - the agency C.S.  commerce service,  a.s.,  selected on
the basis of a bid sent to several  prospective  bidders  under the  Procurement
Act.

A total of 14 entities - 12 business entities and the two municipalities (Nachod
and Dvur  Kralove) in which the heating  plants  operate - were  invited to take
part in the tender for the sale of the heating plants. Expert opinions regarding
the two heating plants were prepared by HZ Praha, spol. s r.o. A total of 7 bids
were  submitted,  with four bids for the  purchase of the NHP and three bids for
the  purchase of the DKHP.  The bid price was the  criterion  against  which the
order of the bids was determined.

In the case of the Dvur  Kralove  Heating  Plant,  it was  decided to cancel the
tender  because  the bid price was too low.  At the same  time,  CEZ  management
decided to repeat the tender.


Ladislav Kriz, spokesman of CEZ, a. s.











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CEZ, a. s., Duhova 2/1444, 140 53 Praha 4
telefon 02 / 71 13 23 83
www.cez.cz, www.duhovaenergie.cz                                        str. 2/2