On October 24, 2016, excellent news was received at U. S. Steel Košice from Berlin, Germany. A jury consisting of representatives of sixteen member states included in the network of experts for energy efficiency awarded first place to Jaroslav Merc, senior consultant from the unit Director Innovation and Energy Strategy led by Ladislav Horváth, in the category of medium-sized companies, and the title of European Energy Manager of the Year 2016 for the design of the energy project entitled Management of Energy, Regulation and Control System (M.E.R.C.) during the 7th edition of the prestigious international conference European Energy Manager (EUREM).
The author of the winning project together with two other steelmakers, Jan Blanár, Director Energy Efficiency Control and project manager Štefan Lengyel, successfully passed the historically first international European Energy Manager certification course in Slovakia, which was held under the auspices of the EUREM consortium based in Nürnberg, Germany, whose main partner is the Slovak – German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.