PRAGUE--Growth in Czech demand for electricity and natural gas should recover from its present stagnation if and when the euro-zone debt crisis subsides, the head of sales at power company CEZ AS (BAACEZ.PR) said Monday in an interview with financial website patria.cz.

"We expect demand for electricity and natural gas in the long run in the Czech Republic to visibly grow [based on] higher expected growth of gross domestic product as we extricate ourselves from the fallout of the ongoing European financial crisis," Alan Svoboda said.

In the first quarter of this year Czech electricity demand rose by a paltry 0.3% annually, but fell 0.2% annually when adjusted for temperature changes on year.

Mr. Svoboda also said 70% state-owned CEZ stands to benefit from its rising natural gas sales.

"We expected that in time the contribution of natural gas sales into [CEZ's profit] margin can approach the contribution of electricity," Mr. Svoboda said.

The company doesn't disclose the actual profit margins on the various commodities it sells.

Last year CEZ increased fourfold its number of customers for natural gas and is now the second largest provider behind the local unit of RWE AG (RWE.XE).

CEZ posted 5.72 billion koruna ($282.0 million) in sales of natural gas in 2011, compared with CZK1.57 billion in 2010.

Write to Sean Carney at sean.carney@dowjones.com