this bill The European Commission will respond this week to the 27th mandate to intervene in the EU. european electricity market It will include the three measures that received the most support among EU energy ministers on Friday: the limits to the extraordinary profits made by marginal technologies such as renewable or nuclear; “Solidarity Contribution” Proportion of fossil fuel companies based on reductions in electricity consumption, which will include additional profits realized in fiscal 2022 and a mandatory savings target for the most expensive hours of the day.
President of the European Commission, Ursula Von de Leyenwill detail the new package this Wednesday State of the Union controversy, once accepted by the College of Stewards. His first plan also included a hat. imported gas price Russia by the pipe is an idea that has cast doubt in some capitals and seems to have been stopped by the latest draft. The consulted draft liquidity tool While the Community Executive will continue to work on this mechanism in parallel, one of the ideas that received majority support from energy ministers last Friday is to ensure that energy operators have adequate collateral guarantees.
Contribution of oil companies
Brussels starts from the premise that not only electricity generating companies, but companies around the world should also contribute. fossil fuels because they, too, are getting richer than expected, thanks to the market situation and extremely high prices. Therefore, he proposes to introduce. “solidarity contribution”, It has an “exceptional and temporary” structure that also puts the fossil fuel sector into action. According to the draft, oil, gas, coal companies and refineries They will have to make a contribution based on the additional benefits of the fiscal year 2022. This revenue will then serve governments to “fund measures to help alleviate the current crisis” between households and companies.
“The collective establishment by the Member States, a coordinated, unique and temporary solidarity contributionBased on the excess of taxable profit earned in the year, fiscal year 2022 The Union’s energy companies in the oil, gas, coal and refining sectors, managed within a common framework, need to help protect consumers and businesses from rising energy prices across the Union, while maintaining the proper functioning of the internal market and ensuring the necessary conditions. Solidarity between Member States”, argues the Commission. According to the document consulted by EL PERIÓDICO, which is not yet final, the measure will be applied to companies’ surplus profits in 2022 at a level above the average of taxable profits. In the three fiscal years starting in 2019 (2019, 2020 and 2021) calculated according to the fiscal rules of each country. If the average annual result for the period covering three fiscal years is negative, the contribution will be zero.
in SpainThe government backed a legislative initiative that began rolling out this Tuesday at the Congress of Deputies, where a temporary 1.2 percent tax was placed on all major energy companies (not just oil companies). The difference between this pass-through tax, which is a non-tax public inheritance, and the “solidarity contribution” proposed by Brussels is that Brussels will tax taxable profits, not total sales. exceeds the average of the last three years.
Reduce consumption
The draft regulation proposal, finalized by Brussels, confirms the idea of setting two targets for reducing electricity demand. First, it will require member states to take “ambitious enough” measures to reduce the total consumption of all consumers. Second, it will be a compelling goal to increase savings during the busiest hours of the day, when they are often consumed more. Member States will need to choose 3-4 hours per day, normally the hours of highest consumption, but this may also include hours when electricity generation from renewable sources is low and generation from marginal power plants is required to meet demand.
As requested by the vice president on Friday Theresa Rivera and the rest of our European colleagues propose economically efficient and market-based measures, such as tenders or bidding systems for bid, demand or non-consumed electricity, giving Member States discretion in defining timeframes and measures. The latest document does not mention the figures, although the European Commission recommends savings of 10% overall in initial drafts and a mandatory 5% during peak hours. It claims that reducing electricity consumption could result in a 1.2 bcm reduction in gas consumption over a four-month period, i.e. 3.8% gas consumption over the same period.
Limit the benefits of renewable energy
The draft also confirms Brussels’ intention to set a cap on unexpected profits for companies that generate electricity from non-gas energy sources such as renewables or nuclear, benefiting from cheaper but higher gas prices. Who sets the final price? According to Brussels, the income cap should be set at a level that covers most marginal producers in the EU and does not put the profitability of existing plants or future investments at risk. According to the non-numbered draft, such a cap would allow Member States to generate revenue to finance measures to support final electricity customers, to protect price signals and cross-border trade in markets across Europe.