Ref. Ares(2025)652722 - 28/01/2025
Annex 2 - Country data controls
and observations
Study on energy subsidies and other
government interventions in the
European Union – 2023 edition
in association with:
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Austria
Two new subsidies have been identified and added to the current inventory:
✓
Klimaticket, which targets to strengthen climate-friendly alternatives of public transport
and has a total allocated budget of €987 million since its implementation in 2021.
✓
The
Renewable Energy Expansion Act, formed by a compendium of several measures
such as the introduction of market premiums to promote the production of electricity from
hydropower, wind power, photovoltaics and solid biomass; the investment grants for the
construction, revitalization and expansion of photovoltaic systems, hydroelectric power
plants, wind turbines and electricity storage facilities, among others. The budget allocation
for investment grants since 2021 will reach a total sum of €600 million by 2025, no including
the market premium tariffs, also included over this act.
Nine new subsidies were introduced/announced due to the energy price increase in 2021, 2022
and 2023, and have been included in the database:
✓
Energy cost subsidy and flat-rate subsidy model for companies, that ensure the
consumption of electricity, natural gas and fuel for companies and commercial
associations: total estimated budget allocation of €7000 million in 2022 and 2023.
✓
The
ENIN Programme: Emission-free commercial vehicles. The final objective of this
subsidy is to promote alternative and decarbonized forms of drive-in companies. € 60
million in 2022 and €60 million in 2023.
✓
Subsidy to support for gas diversification, which aims to increase the resilience of the
economy by reducing dependence on Russian natural gas, cushioning the additional costs
of diversification that burden energy companies. The total allocated budget represents
€400 million between 2023 and 2025.
✓
Two electricity subsidies for agriculture and households. Thanks to them, farms in
Austria will be relieved in the form of an electricity cost subsidy. Additionally, it will ensure
an affordable electricity supply for private households with a basic requirement that
corresponds to around 80% of the average consumption. €4056 million are dedicated
between 2022 and 2024 to ensure these objectives.
✓
Housing and heating allowance will ensure a socially accurate cushioning of the
increased housing costs. Deployed in 2023, it will count with a total amount of €675 million.
✓
Energy cost compensation for rail transport, an energy cost compensation for rail
transport intended to alleviate the hardship of losing competitiveness compared to road
vehicles due to high electricity prices. A total sum of €100 million will be allocated to this
subsidy in 2023.
✓
The
compensation for grid loss costs is a governmental decision that intend to offset 80%
of the additional costs for grid loss charges for the whole of 2023, with a total budget of
€558 million.
✓
The
Electricity Consumption Reduction Act aims to reduce electricity consumption by at
least 5% on average during "peak periods" in order to reduce electricity prices, minimize
fossil fuel consumption and the risk of supply shortages. It counts with a total budget of
€100 million allocated in 2023.
Estimations:
• To calculate the Energy Tax Refund (Energieabgabenvergütung) by energy carrier the total
amount has been broken down based on shares reported by Eurostat. No data is provided
yet for 2022.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
2 subsidies has been classified under Out of scope:
•
Suspension of the green electricity flat rate for 2022: every end consumer (or
household) who is registered as having their main residence in Austria is legally obliged to
pay the green electricity lump sum and the subsidy amount. As it does not induce any
government money disbursement, it has been finally classified under out of scope. It is
rather support not realized for renewable power plant owners (who benefitted from high
electricity prices in 2022 anyway).
•
Price reduction for local public transport: Klimaticket seems to be included in the
numbers of this price reduction measure. There is the differentiation between the nation-
wide Climate Ticket (Klimaticket Ö) and regional Climate Tickets that do not cover the whole
of Austria but just certain states or regions. The numbers in over this measure shows the
planned budget for the subsidy for the regional versions due to the energy crisis, however
the Climate Ticket subsidy appears to be the total number.
General observation
The federal government of Austria publishes each year an
environmental promotion report (Umweltinvestitionen des Bundes). Data from 2021 has been collected, however the 2022 version
has not been published yet. It is worth to mention how subsidies allocated to different categories
inside this report, have changed over the 2020-2022 period, by increasing in 2021 particularly over
the renewable energy (43%) and efficient energy use (36%) categories and decreasing to their
previous amounts in 2022.
A
transparency database (Transparenzdatenbank) is regularly updated and covers regional and
federal subsidies. We, however, only considered federal subsidies in our inventory. Amounts have
significantly increased after this last update for the subsidies:
Renewable energy and energy
efficiency measures and
Other e-mobility measures. This time, it has just been allocated federal
measures from the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation
and Technology (BMK) that target every Austrian federation and that have not been listed
previously in other subsidies.
The new
Renewable Energy Expansion Act EAG (Erneuerbaren-Ausbau-Gesetz) was adopted in
July 2021 and replaced the Green Electricity Act (Ökostromgesetz), which was in force for almost
20 years. The EAG additionally supports energy communities, renewable energies, and the
development of an integrated Austrian grid infrastructure plan. The support instruments for
renewable electricity and gas supply involve feed-in premiums and investment grants. Although
the allocated budget for the market premiums has not been found, the investment grants for the
different sources, detailed annually and divided by project category over the law, have been
summed up.
The
energy tax refunds for coal, natural gas, petroleum, and electricity have continuously
increased during 2021.
At last instance, having a look at the renewable supports, most of the
feed-in tariffs (except of landfill
gas and sewage gas or small hydropower) have significantly decreased during 2021 and 2022, possibly
because of their replacement towards premium market tariffs for newly installed plants over a certain
size. Old feed-in-tariffs will get less relevant each year because plants reach the end of their
subsidisation period. Additionally, in 2022, in Austrian legislature, there is the option to opt to be paid
by the market price instead of the feed-in-tariff
(https://www.oem-ag.at/de/marktpreis/). Therefore,
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
many plant owners have opted-in in 2022, due to the high electricity prices surpassing feed-in tariffs.
This effect could be reversed, as these plants can switch back to the tariff system (after a minimum time
of 12 months) in the upcoming years.
For other subsidies belonging to the
Climate and Energy Fund or the investment grants inside the
Renewable Energy Expansion Act, different behaviours can be remarked. The climate and energy fund
for Solar PV has decreased as this fund is currently responsible only for the "Muster- und
Leuchtturmprojekte in der Photovoltaik" as it appreas on the reported budget. The rest of PV
remuneration has been moved to the new Renewable Energy Act. By contrast, others have significantly
increased since 2021.
To be checked on the following database update:
Electricity price compensation (draft version:
https://www.parlament.gv.at/gegenstand/XXVII/ME/213;
https://www.parlament.gv.at/dokument/XXVII/ME/213/fname_1451889.pdf). It intends to support
money to 13 industrial branches listed in the draft that have been particularly hit by increasing CO2
costs.
Observation about FFS
The main policies to support fossil fuels are the
Excise Tax Exemption for Oil-based Fossil Fuels (Mineralölsteuerbefreiung) and the
Energy Tax Refund (Energieabgabenvergütung). In general
fossil fuel subsidies remain stable over the years, with no particular changes or decreasing signals.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Over 2022 and 2023, several measures have been published taking part in one of the three anti-
inflation packages created by the Austrian government to support the production and
consumption of electricity and gas. They include short-term and immediate relief measures and
changes in the tax and transfer systems or in the structural infrastructure of the country.
Among the recently included measures, households will receive a €500 climate bonus to cushion
inflation and maintain purchase power. Also, low-income households will be supported with an
average of €225, in order to support their heating consumption.
Energy-intense companies also will also be subsidized to relieve them from the energy cost burden.
Additionally, an electricity cost compensation will target companies with a very high electricity
consumption.
To increase the resilience of the economy, by reducing dependence on Russian natural gas, a
measure has been created to support the gas diversification, by cushioning the additional costs of
delivering natural gas from different non-Russian resources. Continuing with another measure
that directly appoints the energy structural system of the country, a relief from the substantially
higher costs in connection with the physically caused grid losses will be provided.
Two additional measures have been created to support the conversion into emission-free vehicles,
freight railways and their infrastructure, in a context where they both are losing competitiveness
compared to road and fuel transport due to the high electricity prices and initial investment costs.
Finally, the Electricity Consumption Reduction Act aims to reduce electricity consumption by at
least 5% on average during "peak periods", in order to reduce electricity prices and minimize fossil
fuel consumption and the risk of supply shortages.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Belgium
Situation vs previous inventory
Twenty-two (22) new subsidies have been identified and added in the current inventory:
At the federal level:
✓
Additional grant under the Gas & Electricity Fund (€37 million in 2023)
✓
Extended social tariff for gas I, II, III (€155 million in 2021, €672 million in 2022, €209 million
in 2023)
✓
Extended social tariff for electricity I (€110 million in 2021, €400 million in 2022, €88 million
in 2023)
✓
One-off flat-rate €80 bonus for protected customers – electricity (€72 million in 2021)
✓
Temporary VAT reduction from 21% to 6% for electricity (€915 million in 2022, €346 million
in 2023)
✓
Temporary VAT reduction from 21% to 6% for gas and heat (€612 million in 2022, €266
million in 2023)
✓
Permanent VAT to 6% for electricity, gas and heat delivery (€1.3 billion in 2023)
✓
Excise tax reform on electricity, gas and heating bills - Excise tax reduction on a
basic/standard consumption block (unknown amount in 2023)
✓
Basic flat rates for natural gas I (€481 million in 2022)
✓
Basic flat rates for electricity I (€364 million in 2022)
✓
Basic flat rates for electricity & gas II (€1.4 billion in 2023)
✓
Excise duty reduction to limit the rise in road fuel prices (€927 million in 2022, €248 million
in 2023)
✓
Excise duty reduction on gas and electricity to the EU minimum standards for corporates
and self-employed (€55 million in 2022, €63 million in 2023)
✓
€100 federal heating premium (€520 million in 2022)
✓
€300 allowance for households heating with heating oil or bulk propane (€300 heating oil
cheque) (€315 million)
✓
€250 pellets check (€20 million)
✓
Reduced VAT on solar PV panels, thermal solar panels, solar water heaters and heat pumps
(unknown amounts in 2022 and 2023)
✓
Compensation for the rise in energy prices and wage costs for SNCB and Infrabel (€201
million)
At Wallonia-level:
✓
Direct aid to enterprises impacted by brutal rising energy prices (€175 million over 2022-
2023)
✓
Soft loan and specific guarantee program to support struggling companies with rising
energy prices (€300 million in 2022)
At Brussels-level:
✓
RENOLUTION premium (€54 million in 2022)
✓
Brussels energy compensation premium (€117 million in 2023)
Zero (0) historical subsidy, which was not included in the previous listing, has been added to the
database.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Two (2) subsidies related to the
Gas & Electricity Fund / Social Energy Fund have been merged
into one subsidy to reflect better the actual amount granted to low-income households.
General observation
Data are spread among many institutions because of the institutional organisations of the country
(federal and regional levels).
Except for the measures to support households and companies with rising energy prices, no other
significant changes have been observed.
According to the 2021 annual report of the Belgian energy regulator, no contracts have been signed
for
Strategic Reserve (Capacity) between 2019 and 2021.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Significant amounts of subsidies have been budgeted/granted to address the high energy context
in Belgium since 2021. Thus, among the twenty-two new subsidies identified in the current
inventory, twenty-one (21) subsidies have been created or modified to relieve households and
companies with rising energy prices.
Most of the identified subsidies stand at the federal level. The Government took significant
measures to relieve households’ energy bills, such as the temporary then permanent reduction of
the VAT rate from 21% to 6% for electricity, gas and heat (up to €1.9 billion for 2023).
In order to limit the rise in road fuels prices, a reduction in excises duties, equivalent to €0.175 per
litre at the pump, was voted, amounting to €927 million and €248 million in 2022 and Q1 2023.
The social tariffs for gas and electricity were extended to a larger basis of low-income households.
It represents a €1.3 billion budget for 2022 and 2023 and will be progressively phased out from
July 2023.
From November 2022 to March 2023, several “basic flat-rates/packages for gas and electricity”
were distributed to anyone with a residential gas / electricity contract (and beneficiary of the social
tariffs). The total budget amounts up to €845 million in 2022 and €1.4 billion in Q1 2023.
Several “premiums” were also distributed to support the households such as the €100 federal
heating premium, the €300 allowance for households heating with heating oil and the €250 pellets
check.
On April 1, 2023, a
reform on taxation on energy bills was enforced, changing notably the
excise duty system on electricity and gas invoices. A new and increased excise rate is
introduced on the different consumption blocks on residential contracts. The increase in excise
rates are supposed to offset the permanent decrease in VAT down to 6% and contribute to balance
the federal budget. At the end, the fiscal changes should lower the end clients’ energy bills,
according to the Belgian Ministry of Finance.
Bulgaria
Situation vs previous inventory
Two new subsidies, as extensions of current initiatives, have been identified and added in the
current inventory:
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Competitiveness and Innovations in Enterprises 2021-2027
✓
Regional Development Program 2021-2027
Four subsidies (as part of the National Recovery and Sustainability Plan) have been removed from
the inventory, because some projects will not be performed:
✘ Digital transformation and development of information systems and real-time systems of
the Energy System Operator in the conditions of low-carbon energy
✘ National Infrastructure for Electricity Storage from RES (RESTORE)
✘ Scheme to support pilot projects for the production of green hydrogen and biogas
✘ Scheme to support the construction of a minimum of 1.4GW RES and batteries
General observation
The amounts for the recent years are not always well documented.
In the last few years, the
Support for energy efficiency in multifamily buildings has fallen
substantially. Тhis program has ended in 2020. The funds paid in 2021 and 2022 only for the
completion of contracts concluded in the previous years. It is replaced by a similar one „Support
for sustainable energy renovation of the housing stock” under the
National Recovery and
Sustainability Plan, but the first funds under this procedure will be disbursed in 2023 at the
earliest.
The
National Recovery and Sustainability Plan for 2022-2026 has been introduced with
subsidies announced for 9 categories regarding energy. In 2021-2022, the National Recovery and
Sustainability Plan underwent significant changes and delays. No amounts of financing are
delivered for energy efficiency and RES under this plan in 2022 and several projects are terminated
and will not be performed.
Regarding
Feed-in-tarrifs for hydro, wind, solar, biomass and biogas, by end of 2021 and
throughout 2022, market prices of electricity increased 3-4 times compared to the beginning of the
year and exceeded the preferential price of all RES includind PV and biomass. Therefore, subsidies
for
Feed-in-tarrifs in 2021 are significantly reduced, and from 2022 are not relevant. The same
applies for
Long term PPA. Looking specifically at
Feed-in tariffs CHP and district heating, due
to the very high prices of natural gas, the preferential prices of electricity from CHP on gas were
increased many times and were higher than the market prices of electricity in the second half of
2022.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Several sets of measures were introduced in 2021 and 2022 to face the rising energy price (both
measures were regrouped under the “Instruments to compensate companies due to the energy
price rise” scheme:
• In end-October 2021, the Government announced a €225 million subsidy to compensate
companies due to the rise in electricity price (the subsidy was set to function between
November-end December 2021),
•
In end-December 2021, a new compensation scheme was granted to fund €460 million
until end of April 2022.
These subsidies in 2022 include:
• Program for compensation of non-domestic end customers of electricity;
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
• Program for compensating the costs of the operators of the electricity transmission and
distribution networks for the purchase of the amounts of electrical energy needed for
technological costs;
• Program for compensation of domestic customers of natural gas and district heating
companies using natural gas as the main fuel with support of a fixed amount per MWh;
• Program for compensating the unforeseen expenses of the water and sanitation sector
companies for consumed electrical energy;
The official data for all compensations in 2022 is 6 382 127 329 BGN.
Croatia
Situation vs previous inventory
Packages of measures to tackle rising energy prices have been updated and added to the database.
However, only measures that are quite clearly related to energy have been added (e.g. financing
of energy expenses). More general social measures have not been included (e.g. increases in
pensions or social benefits).
General observation
Apart from the packages of measures to tackle rising energy prices, no significant changes have
been observed compared to previous years. There is a better availability of subsidies amount for
future years.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
In February 2022, the government presented a €636 million package (HRK 4.8 billion) to mitigate
rising energy prices. The measures aim to cap the growth of electricity prices at 9.6% (instead of
23%) and that of gas prices at 20% (instead of 79%). The package addresses the most vulnerable
energy customers.
Government measures also include a permanent reduction in the VAT rate for gas and heat from
25% to 13%. In addition, the rate for gas has been temporarily reduced to 5% between the
beginning of April 2022 and the end of March 2023. Reduced VAT rates also apply to certain basic
foodstuffs, sanitary towels and sporting and cultural events. The government planned in February
2022 that all these VAT reductions would cost €280 million (HRK 2.1 billion). According to rough
estimates, the cost of the reduced VAT rate on gas alone may have cost €375 million (HRK 2.8
billion) in the period April-December 2022.
In September 2022, the government presented another €2.8 billion package (HRK 21 billion) to
support consumers against rising energy and food prices. €797 million (HRK 6 billion) are dedicated
to support HEP, the national power company. From 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, electricity
and heat prices were capped. From 17 October 2022, retail prices of petroleum products (gasoline,
diesel, blue diesel (used for government vehicles) and LPG) have been capped at a level updated
every two weeks.
Czechia
Situation vs previous inventory
Three new subsidies have been identified and added in the current inventory, the second of which
was introduced to combat energy price increases:
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Support scheme for district heating modernisation (1.2 billion CZK over 2023-2025)
✓
Price caps on electricity and natural gas for domestic customers (130 billion CZK for 2023)
✓
Heating plant compensation (470 million CZK for 2023)
Three subsidies were introduced/announced due to the energy price increase in 2021 and 2022:
✓
VAT exemption for electricity and gas for November and December 2021 (CZK 2.8 billion in
2021/ €116 million)
✓
State backed guarantee (unknown)
✓
Modified housing allowance (unknown)
General observation
Excise tax refunds of natural gas, mineral oil and electricity are published monthly by the Customs
Administration (Celní správa).
The government publishes each year a
Report on the results of the state budget management
(Zpráva o výsledcích hospodaření státního rozpočtu), where mining subsidies are indicated. The
final report for 2021 is expected in October, but the government has already published a draft
version, which has been used in our data base for 2021 data.
Feed-in tariffs and feed-in premiums for renewable energies are published annually by the Czech
electricity and gas market operator OTE, at present the 2022 figures have yet to be published
In 2020
Excise tax refund for degraded mineral oils and mineral oil used as production
feedstock has seen a massive increase from CZK 42 million (2019) to CZK 758 million (2020) and
back to CZK 26 million.
The Excise tax refund for mineral oils used in agriculture/forestry fell from CZK 3 billion in 2020 to
CZK 1.1 billion in 2021.
A third revision of the “New Green Savings Programme” has been introduced, beginning in 2022
and continuing until 2030. Its yearly budget is about twice that of the earlier revisions of the
programme at 4.5 billion CZK annually. This is based off an estimate so actual figures may vary.
The older versions of this programs continue to include some small expenditures, as a result of
honouring contracts approved during the regime, as such they can continue to pay out up to 15
years after their “end” date. This end date refers to the end of new applications, or when the
program is replaced by its second or third revisions.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Already in November 2021 Czechia introduced a VAT exemption for electricity and gas for
November and December to relief households from the recent price increase. The cost of this
measure is estimated at CZK 2.8 billion.
Furthermore, vulnerable households are offered a
modified housing allowance, taking into
account the increased costs for energy. Businesses can benefit from a
state-backed guarantee with low interest rate.
Additionally, price caps on electricity and natural gas for domestic consumers have been
implemented to help shield customers from extreme prices, particularly in the “heating season”.
This measure is intended to only be used during 2023, and at a budget of 130 billion CZK.
Cyprus
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Situation vs previous inventory
New subsidies have been identified and added to the current inventory, including:
✓
Sponsorship plan for thermal insulation, installation of photovoltaic and solar water
heaters (€7 million in 2021)
✓
State support to an LNG terminal
✓
Support Scheme for energy efficiency investment using European Structural and
investment funds 2021-2027
✓
Energy Fund of Funds providing soft loans for energy efficiency
✓
Support schemes through national fund of Renewable energy and energy conservation for
promoting energy efficiency investments in Residential and public sector
✓
Individual energy efficiency interventions and energy efficiency interventions in selected
governmental and municipal buildings
✓
Fuel and heating tax relief of 7 cents/liter and 8.3 cents/liter
✓
Grant scheme for RES installation in dwellings for self-consumption (PV)
✓
Reduced electricity consumption VAT rate
✓
Support scheme for upgrading non-SMEs energy upgrade
✓
Grant - Support scheme for deep energy renovation of existing households
✓
Ad-hoc-aid support scheme to promote the use of RES in agriculture, with the primary
objective of reducing the cost of pumping irrigation water."
✓
Grant to vulnerable consumers to replace energy-intensive domestic appliances
✓
Scheme for energy efficient street lighting
✓
Grant scheme for the encouragement of energy upgrading by local authorities and public
sector organisations
Four subsidies are labelled under: Special Fund for RES and Energy Efficiency Subsidies. A global
amount for the subsidy is available online:
✓
“Special Fund for RES and Energy Efficiency Subsidies - Electricity from RES”
But this total amount could not be broken-down by category for the following lines. Hence they
have been removed:
✘ Special Fund for RES and Energy Efficiency Subsidies - Support to energy savings
✘ Special Fund for RES and Energy Efficiency Subsidies - Electricity from RES
✘ Support Scheme for energy efficiency investment using European Structural and
investment funds 2021-2027
✘ Supporting scheme for promoting energy efficiency investments in Small and Medium
Enterprises (SMEs) through European Structural and Investment Funds (Programming
Period 2021 - 2027).
✘ Promotion of energy Efficiency in enterprises, through voluntary agreements under the
“Business 4 climate” initiative.
✘ Special Fund for RES and Energy Efficiency Subsidies - Transport
✘ Special Fund for RES and Energy Efficiency Subsidies - Heating and Cooling (RES H&C)
Feed in premium subsidies amounts for solar, wind and biogas have been estimated by expert
for 2019 and 2020 due to missing data. As the wholesale prices for Cyprus were not available,
therefore expert followed the approach hereunder:
First, calculation of the renewable production ratio for each year, starting from 2017;
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Then, calculation of the renewable subsidy level (euro/MWh) for the years with available data (i.e.
up to 2018);
Based on the abovementioned calculation, calculation of the renewable subsidy ratio (e.g. REN
subsidy level 2017/REN subsidy level 2016). For the years 2019 and 2020 it was assumed that the
ratio is equal to the previous year;
Finally, the abovementioned ratios is multiplied with the subsidy of the previous year.
Data for feed-in premium for 2021 and onwards are previsions from the NECP of Cyprus.
General observation
Data source and information are generally difficult to identify, rarely available in English and
sometimes published in poor quality documents (e.g. scans that make unavailable machine
translation). Brugel sources help to improve this issue, however due to the nature of Brugel’s
research these are often merely estimates rather than retrospective accounts of spending.
Cyprus’s particularities as an island energy market mean that fossil fuel phase out is a more
complex process than in mainland energy systems. As such, measures such as grants for energy
storage systems to aid renewables integration are under debate and consideration by the national
legislation, but grid-scale measures have not been approved as of yet.
Feed-in tariffs have been phased out at the end of 2020 in favour of net metering schemes,
however budgets for this new scheme are as of yet unavailable.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Three specifics measures have been announced to address rising energy price. Firstly, the
government announced a 10% discount on the electricity bill of all households from November
2021 to February 2022.
Fuel (gasoline and diesel) as well as heating materials had their taxes reduced by 7 and 5,4 cents
per liter respectively for the period of March 2022-February 2023
State aid has been provided to both individuals as well as enterprises for the second half of 2022
On 4 November 2021, the cabinet approved a reduction of VAT from 19% to 5% on electricity bills
for vulnerable groups for six months.
The Minister of Finance said that the government would also augment the disbursement of cost-
of-living allowances.
Denmark
Situation vs previous inventory
Eight new subsidies have been identified and added to the current inventory:
✓
Important Project of Common European Interest Hy2Use (€8.8 million/DKK 65.4 million in
2022)
✓
Technology-neutral pool for CO2 capture (€37.6 million/DKK 280 million in 2023)
✓
Pool for the capture and storage of CO2 (CCS)
✓
Energy storage (€26.0 million/DKK 194 million in 2022)
✓
Subsidy for decoupling the gas network (€5.4 million/DKK 40.6 million in 2021)
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Pool to support local energy communities (€0.54 million/DKK 4.0 million in 2022)
✓
Subsidy scheme for PtX projects (€1.5 million/DKK 11.1 million in 2024)
✓
Support for test wind turbines (€11.5 million/DKK 85.6 million in 2023)
Six subsidies were introduced/announced due to the energy price increase in 2021 and 2022, and
has been included to the database:
✓
Agreement on compensation of citizens for rising energy prices (€13.4 million/DKK 100
million in 2022)
✓
Agreement on Winter Help (€14.8 million/DKK 110 million in 2022)
✓
Support for smaller merchants and other energy-exposed food businesses in small towns
(€10.1 million/DKK 75 million in 2023)
✓
Support for vulnerable energy-intensive cultural institutions (€2.0 million/DKK 15 million in
2023)
✓
Support for energy-improving initiatives at cultural institutions (€4.7 million/DKK 35 million
in 2023)
✓
Disconnection scheme and district heating pool (€26.9 million/DKK 200 million in 2023)
General observation
The Danish Ministry of Finance provides a transparent list of the national budget. Since 2021 the
Ministry provides data broken down by each renewable energy source. Before, only total amounts
have been provided by the authority and shares were estimated by the authors. The planned
annual budget is provided four years advance. Thus, planned expenditures are available until 2026
from the time of writing this report.
Feed-in premiums for renewable energies (except onshore wind) were relatively stable until 2021,
fluctuating arund DKK 7 billion. These feed-in preniums have fallen from DKK 7.7 billion in 2020 to
DKK 2.7 billion in 2021. Feed-in preniums for all sources of energy are DKK 0 in 2021, except biogas.
There are no subsidies reported for 2021 because the specific financial accounts are new entries
starting from 2022. Feed-in tariffs for biogas increased from DKK 1.8 billion in 2020 to DKK 2.7
billion in 2021. The
PSO system is phased out from 2022 and onwards. Thus, there will be no
expenditures in relation to the PSO system.
For the period from 2021 to 2024, Denmark has introduced a new support scheme for renewable
energy based on a tendering procedure and a reference price set in an auction. The aid is granted
in the form of a
two-way-contract-for difference premium and has a total maximum budget of
approximately €400 million (DKK 3 billion). The maximum duration of the aid is 20 years after the
connection to the electricity grid. The new scheme replaces the previous top-up payment in the
form of a premium added to the market price from the tenders in 2018 and 2019.
Danish citizens receive a
Green Check as a tax-free compensation for increased energy and
environment costs. The total amount of these green checks is following a decreasing trend, from
DKK 4.3 billion in 2017 to DKK 2.9 billion in 2022.
For consumption (final energy consumption of the industry, agriculture and rail transport), data
has been used from Eurostat instead of Odyssee. The reason for this is that the Odyssee database
is only updated every three years, which is why more recent data can be found at Eurostat.
Observation about FFS?
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Since 2020, The
tax exemption for investments in the extraction of fossil fuels in the North
Sea have fallen from €270 million in 2019 to €0, even though the tax reduction is planned to last
until 2025. Besides that, subsidies for fossil fuels continue to stay stable over the years.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
The government presented a couple of measures to respond to the recent rise in energy prices.
The government provides
Compensation for high energy costs "heat check" of €270 million
(DKK 2 billion) to low-income households in 2022, to relieve these households from increasing
energy costs.
With the
Agreement on compensation of citizens for rising energy prices, the government
introduced a decrease of the general electricity tax with 4.0 øre/kWh in the 4th quarter of 2022 and
4.3 øre/kWh in 2023. This will cost €13.4 million (DDK 100 million).
With the
Agreement on Winter Help, the government introduced a freezing scheme for
households and businesses where a temporary price ceiling is introduced for electricity, gas and
district heating for energy bills. Temporary relaxation of the general electricity tax to the EU's
minimum rate of 0.8 øre per kWh in the first half of the year 2023. This will cost approximatey
€14.8 million in 2022 (DKK 110 million).
The government provides support for
smaller merchants and other energy-exposed food
businesses in small towns,
energy-intensive cultural institutions, and
energy-improving
initiatives at cultural institutions for a total amount of €16,8 million in 2023 (DKK 125 million),
across these three subsidies.
Estonia
Situation vs previous inventory
Four new subsidies have been identified and added to the inventory:
✓
Support for reducing the negative environmental impact of aquaculture (€163 thousand in
2022)
✓
Investment support for the food industry to ensure security of energy supply (€3.7 million
in 2022)
✓
Investment support for the exploitation of bioresources (€18,4 million in 2022)
✓
Reconstruction grant 2022-2027 (€80 million in 2023)
Nine subsidies were introduced/announced due to the energy price increase in 2021 and 2022,
and has been included to the database:
✓
Extraordinary support for a fishing company for fuel compensation (€545 thousand in
2023)
✓
Extraordinary support for electricity compensation for fishery and aquaculture products
(€1.3 million in 2023)
✓
Reimbursement of district heating for domestic consumers (€14 million in 2022)
✓
Natural gas support measure for business consumers (€3 million in 2022)
✓
Price limit of electricity bills for domestic consumers (€21 million in 2022)
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Price limit of gas bills for domestic consumers (€8.5 million in 2022)
✓
Electricity network fee compensation (€133 million in 2022)
✓
Gas network fee compensation (€25 million in 2022)
✓
Reimbursement of electricity, gas and district heating bills for families with up to average
income (€79 million in 2022)
General observation
In October 2021, the Estonian Competition Authority made a proposal to the Ministry of Economic
Affairs and Communications to review renewable energy subsidies in light of rising electricity
prices. The Ministry declined this proposition arguing that changing support schemes
retrospectively will send a bad message to the sector and have long term negative effects.
The amont granted for
Energy saving and energy efficiency in the agricultural sector is 0 for
2021, whereas it exceeds €10 millions in previous years, because the 7th round for applications
was open in 2020 and the 8th round was opened in March 2022. There was no applying for 2021.
The
Reconstruction grant 2022-2027 is the continuation of the program
Apartment Building
Renovation Grants (2015-2020). In 2023, €80 million are planned for this subsidy and overall €366
million are planned for this policy across the whole program.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Several measures have been but in place to face rising energy prices:
Compensation for district heating for household consumers, in February and March 2022, the
state automatically compensates the home consumer for 65% of the part of the district heating bill
that exceeds the unit price level of October 2021. The cost is estimated at €14 million in 2022.
Natural gas support measure for business consumers, in February to March 2022, non-
domestic consumers are compensated for the natural gas price of 2.74 euros per megawatt hour.
The cost is estimated at €3 million in 2022.
Price limit of electricity bills for domestic consumers, in January to March 2022, a price ceiling
for household consumers of 12 cents per kWh (+ sales tax) for electricity consumption up to 650
kw/h per month has been established. This means that if the price of electricity, either on the stock
exchange or in a fixed-price package, exceeds 12 cents/kWh, the state pays for this part of the
electricity bill. The cost is estimated at €21 million in 2022.
Price limit of gas bills for domestic consumers, in January to March 2022, a price ceiling for
domestic consumers of 6.5 cents per kWh or 0.6792 €/m3 (+VAT) for gas consumption up to 2.75
MWh per month has been established. The part exceeding the price floor is compensated. The cost
is estimated at €8.5 million in 2022.
Through
electricity network fee compensation for everyone, the electricity network fee is
reimbursed to the extent of 50% to all electricity consumers, from October until December 2021.
From January to March 2022, institutions/companies will be compensated 100% of the electricity
network fee. The cost is estimated at €133 million in 2022.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Through
gas network fee compensation for everyone, all gas consumers are reimbursed 100%
of the gas network service fee from December 2021 to March 2022. The cost is estimated at €25
million in 2022.
With
reimbursement of electricity, gas and district heating bills for families with up to
average income, some households are reimbursed for 80% of the price increase of a specific type
of energy (electricity, gas or room heating) on the basis of electricity, gas and heating bills from
September 2021 to April 2022.
The cost is estimated at €79 million in 2022.
The government also introduced two measures to mitigate the negative effects in the field of
fishing caused by the conflict in Ukraine, through extraordinary support for electricity and fuel
compensation for fishing companies. The total cost is estimated at €1.8 million in 2023.
Finland
Situation vs previous inventory
Three new subsidies have been identified and added in the current inventory:
✓
Subsidies for public infrastructure of fuelling stations: €3 million per year between 2022
and 2025
✓
Energy tax exception for CHP production, replacing a CO2 tax: amounts to be confirmed
✓
Pumped Hydro storage facility subsidization: €23,6 million over 2023-2025
General observation
The compensation for indirect costs of the EU ETS for the industry has increased from 2017 (€37
million) to 2021 (€106 million). Since the start of the 4th phase of the EU ETS (2021-2030), this
measure no longer exists, last expenditures were paid in 2021 to retroactively compensate for
2020 expenses, program officially ended at the end of 2020
Feed-in Tariffs for renewable energies (wind, biogas and biomass) have decreased from 2017 (€256
million) to 2021 (€116 million), 2021 saw the expenditures on these fall to 0 in most industries due
to high energy prices making them unnecessary.
The costs of the reduced electricity tax for industry, agriculture, server halls, heat pumps and
electrical boilers has increased from 2017 (€590 million) to 2023 (€848 million). The increase from
2020 to 2021 could be explained by the addition of heat pumps and electrical boilers, as well as a
larger amount of server halls to this subsidy.
The subsidies for public charging infrastructure increased from €5.5 million in 2019 to €13.5 million
in 2022, of which around one third is used for refuelling stations for gas cars. For private electric
charging subsidies increased from €1.5 million to €10.8 million. The government justifies the
increase of subsidies with the increasing number of cars with alternative drives.
Tax reduction on paraffinic diesel decreased from €100 million in 2020 to €35 million in 2022. The
government plans to phase-out this subsidy by 2023.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Subsidies for replacing fossil oil heating systems in single-family houses has been extended to
natural gas and the available budget has been increased from €10 million (2021) to €68.5 million
(2022).
Investment aid is provided across several energy types, however figures are difficult to find,
particularly in disaggregated form. The governmental budget targets a smaller expenditure in
2022, down from 145 million in 2021 to €95 million.
The government undertakes a forestry management/biogas production support program. This
program is likely not entirely an energy subsidy program, as it includes forestry management, but
has been included for the time being.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Temporary increase in the maximum amount of the commuter allowance from €7,000 to €8,400,
this has been extended through 2023. For this measure €284 million have been budgeted by the
government.
The government has announced a tax reduction for agricultural production buildings, that is
currently being reviewed to bring it in line with EU law.
A loan scheme for climate-friendly investments in the housing sector is under preparation. The
goal is to improve energy efficiency of buildings, install renewable heating systems and make use
of renewable energy.
The government is also preparing a new occupational diesel tax system. The abolition of tax
subsidies for occupational diesel will be examined.
France
Situation vs previous inventory
The implementation of two special funding plans, the recovery plan (France Relance) following the
Covid-19 health crisis and the resilience plan responding to the effects of Russia's invasion of
Ukraine continue to have a significant impact on energy subsidies.
The year 2022 was marked by the extension of the tariff shield for gas and electricity, which limits
the increase in regulated tariffs of electricity and gas (
bouclier tarifaire):
✓
Capping of the regulated gas tariff (€400 million in 2021, €8.1 billion in 2022, €11.1 billion
in 2023)
✓
Capping of the regulated electricity tariff for households and businesses (€18.7 billion in
2022 instead of an initial budget of €8 billion, €33.8 billion in 2023), through a reduction in
the electricity tax (€7.4 billion in 2022, €9.4 billion in 2023) and a cap on the regulated
electricity tariff (€11.3 billion in 2022, €24.4 billion in 2023)
The
reporting of the electricity tariff shield has been modified to distinguish between the two
types of mechanisms it encompasses, the reduction of domestic tax on final electricity
consumption (TICFE) and the capping of the regulated electricity tariff.
In 2022, the regulator recorded
public service energy charges for 2021 that were much lower
than anticipated: initially estimated at €9.1 billion, then re-estimated at €8 billion, they finally
amounted to €6.1 billion (-23%). The energy public service charges for 2022, estimated at €8.8
billion in 2021, were finally re-evaluated at -€8.5 billion. For the first time since the introduction of
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
support for renewable energies, these charges represent a negative amount, i.e. a revenue for the
State budget. This is mainly due to the increase in wholesale prices on the electricity markets.
Indeed, when the wholesale price on the electricity markets exceeds the reference tariff set in the
support contracts, the difference between the two is paid back to the State. On the contrary, when
the wholesale price on the electricity markets is lower than this guaranteed tariff, the State
compensates the difference. For the same reasons, the public service charges for energy are
estimated at a revenue of €16.5 billion for 2023. This highlights the major contribution of
renewable energies (particularly electricity) to public finances in the current context of the crisis in
wholesale energy prices, which should partly finance the exceptional expenses linked to consumer
protection measures. However, these negative amounts cannot be considered as subsidies and
have therefore been set to 0 in the database.
The
renationalization of EDF, France's main electricity generation and supply company, was
announced in July 2022; at the end of January 2023, the State owned 90% of the company. The
operation could be completed by end-2023, after a court decision is made. At an estimated cost of
€9.7 billion, the stated objective is to ensure France's energy independence and sovereignty. This
should also be seen in the context of major investments expected in the nuclear sector following
the announcement by the President of the Republic, in February 2022, of the construction of at
least 6, potentially 14, new EPR2 reactors.
In 2015, France decided to cap nuclear energy production capacity to diversify its energy sources.
EDF was forced to close the Fessenheim plant, and the damage linked to the cap was covered by a
compensatory protocol between the State and the operator. The protocol provides for several
mechanisms for adjusting the amount of compensation: the fixed part, amounting to €370 million,
was paid in full on 14 December 2020; the amount of the variable part, determined by parameters
set in the protocol, will be paid later and is yet uncertain. In 2021, €37 million should be paid to
EDF and no additional credits have been opened for 2022.
The amount allocated in 2022 to the main grant scheme for housing renovation (called
MaPrimeRénov’) has been significantly updated, from almost €2 billion planned to €3.1 billion finally
granted, as the number of applications submitted far exceeded expectations. €2.5 billion are
planned for 2023.
The estimate of the cost of
energy saving certificates has been updated and decreased slightly
in 2022 to €1.8 billion (-1.5%).
The
methodology for estimating the cost of energy vouchers has been updated:
• Based on actual disbursed amounts, rather than provisional/budgeted amounts. As about
20% of households do not use their energy vouchers, the difference is not negligible;
• Updated breakdown of the total amount between the different fuels;
• Addition of the experimental phase of the scheme in 4 departments in 2016 and 2017.
This new method is more accurate but leads to an annual reduction of about 20% of the estimated
total amount compared to the estimate of the last edition (-€300 million in 2021).
The following
tax expenses has been removed from the inventory:
✘ Reduced domestic consumption tax in favour of farmers on gasoil used as fuel for motors
or vehicles used for forestry or farming work, as it has ended;
✘ Reduced domestic consumption tax on natural gas used in road vehicles (NGV), as it has
ended;
✘ Resiliency plan - Call for projects to support industrial energy transition projects, helping
to move away from Russian gas, which can be implemented in winter 2022/2023, because
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
it is likely to be included in the Decarbonisation of industry program of the recovery plan
(risk of double counting);
✘ France Relance recovery plan - Support for the development of the green hydrogen sector
- Additional remuneration for carbon-free hydrogen, as it is no longer mentioned anywhere
and no budget seems to have been made available for it.
New subsidies have been added to the inventory:
✓
Resiliency plan - Securing the filling of gas storage facilities (€1.4 billion in 2022);
✓
Feed-in tariffs - offshore wind (negative amounts expected in 2022 and 2023);
✓
Allowance for fuel expenses for lowest income commuters (to start in 2023);
✓
Renationalization of EDF (€9.7 billion in 2022/23) – separate from the main database.
General observation
The amounts for the recent years are well documented, often with actual numbers and otherwise
with budget figures.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
The Resilience Plan took emergency measures following the conflict in Ukraine, among which an
exceptional discount on fuel prices at the pump from 1 April 2022. Initially announced to last 4
months (and cost €3 billion), it has been extended until the end of the year (finally costing €7.6
billion in 2022). This discount has been replaced in 2023 by an allowance for fuel expenses
(
indemnité carburant) from which only the 10 million lowest income workers who use their car to
get to work can benefit. The cost of the measure is not yet known but could be in the order of €1
billion in 2023 as the amount of the allowance is set at €100 per person for the whole year.
Before the Ukrainian crisis, exceptional measures had already been taken to address rising energy
price. In 2021, the public eligible for the energy vouchers aimed at households in fuel poverty
(
Chèque Energie), created in 2018 to replace social energy tariffs, was extended from 3.7 million to
5.8 million households, and an additional exceptional voucher of €100 was attributed to all
beneficiaries. Another exceptional voucher of €100 or €200 was granted to 12 million households
in 2022, in addition to the standard scheme, for an additional cost of €1.8 billion. The cost of the
Chèque Energie thus reached €2.6 billion in 2022 (€670 million in 2020, €1.1 billion in 2021).
The Government also decided in 2021 to took measures to protect gas and electricity consumers
from price rising by capping the regulated tariffs (
bouclier tarifaire). For gas, individuals and small
condominiums (consuming less than 150 MWh/year) have benefited from a tariff freeze between
November 2021 and December 2022. The measure has been extended until December 2023 and
limits the increase in regulated natural gas sales tariffs to an average of 15% including tax. Its cost
is estimated at €19.6 billion (€400 million in 2021, €8.1 billion in 2022, €11.1 billion in 2023).
Concerning electricity, the increase in regulated tariffs has been capped at 4% including tax
between 1 February 2022 and 31 January 2023. From 1 February 2023, the increase is capped at
an average of 15% including tax for the following year. To this end, the domestic consumption tax
on electricity consumption (TICFE) has been reduced, as well as the municipal tax on electricity
consumption (TCCFE) in 2023. The cost of this measure is estimated at €52.5 billion (€18.7 billion
in 2022, €33.8 billion in 2023).
As part of the Resilience Plan, gas reserves have been secured by ensuring that storage facilities
are filled to a level higher than the minimum 85% provided for by the usual regulatory mechanism,
in order to better control the management of stocks and to limit the impact on consumers of the
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
variability of gas prices. This measure cost €1.4 billion in 2022 but could save €1.3 billion in 2023.
As this negative amount cannot be considered as a subsidy, it has been set to 0 in the database.
The abolition of the tax niche on off-road diesel, scheduled for 2023, has been postponed.
Germany
Situation vs previous inventory
In total, twenty-two (22) new subsidies have been identified and added in the current inventory:
✓
Electricity price compensation for indirect ETS costs in Germany for 2021-2030 (€944
million in 2022, €2.993 billion in 2023, €2.563 billion in 2024 and €3.499 billion in 2025)
✓
Offshore Wind Energy Act – 2023’s amendments (WindSeeG) (€1.5 billion over 2023-2025)
✓
Prolongation of the scheme for a reduced EEG-surcharge for railway undertakings (€500
million in 2023 and 2024)
✓
EnFG-surcharge reduction for electricity-intensive industry
✓
EnFG-surcharge reduction for railway industry
✓
EnFG-surcharge exemption for the production of hydrogen
✓
Second heating cost subsidy for low-income households (€812.3 million in 2023)
✓
Energy price flat rate for retired workers (€6.4 billion in 2022)
✓
Energy price flat rate for students and professional students (€700 million in 2023)
✓
Rescue package for Uniper (€34.5 billion over 2022-2024)
✓
KfW loan to secure liquidity of Gazprom Germania GmbH (€7.5 billion in 2022)
✓
German aid to support SEFE GmbH / ex- Gazprom Germania GmnbH (€225.6 million in
2022)
✓
Reduction of the EEG surcharge (€3.3 billion in 2022)
✓
Abolition of the EEG surcharge (€6.6 billion in 2022)
✓
Adoption of the December discount, Emergency aid for gas and district heating (€1.7 billion
in 2022)
✓
Gas and Electricity price brakes - Gas & Heating (€56 billion over 2023-2024)
✓
Gas and Electricity price brakes – Electricity (€43 billion over 2023-2024)
✓
Tax reduction on gas consumption (€11.2 billion over 2022-2024)
✓
CO2 price increase postponed to 2024 (€2 billion in 2023)
✓
Federal support for efficient heat networks (BEW) (€1.66 billion over 2022-2025, over a total
aid up to €29.8 billion over 2022-2028)
✓
Temporary cost containment of electricity price increases – rail transport operators (€1.125
billion in 2023)
✓
Creation of gas reserves to maintain security of supply in Germany (€2.5 billion in 2023)
Zero (0) historical subsidy, which was not included in the previous listing, has been added to the
database.
Four (4) subsidies had been introduced/announced due to the energy price increase in 2021 and
2022, and thus included in the previous inventory exercise:
✓
Reduction of tax rates for diesel, gasoline, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas fuels
(€3.2 billion in 2022)
✓
One-time heating cost subsidy for low-income households (€370 million in 2022)
✓
Energy price flat rate for employees subject to income tax (€10.4 billion in 2022)
✓
Aid program for energy-intensive industry launched (€5 billion in 2022)
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
One (1) subsidy reported in the previous inventory exercise has been extended to end 2023 to
address the context of rising energy prices:
Electricity tax reduction for manufacturing businesses in
special cases ('Spitzenausgleich') (€1.7 billion in 2023, the allocation per 2023’s electricity mix is
unknown).
Twelve new (12) subsidies have been introduced/announced due to the energy price increase in
2022 and thus included in the current inventory exercise:
✓
Second heating cost subsidy for low-income households (€812.3 million in 2023)
✓
Energy price flat rate for retired workers (€6.4 billion in 2022)
✓
Energy price flat rate for students and professional students (€700 million in 2023)
✓
Abolition of the EEG surcharge (€6.6 billion in 2022)
✓
Rescue package for Uniper (€34.5 billion over 2022-2024)
✓
Adoption of the December discount, Emergency aid for gas and district heating (€1.7 billion
in 2022)
✓
Gas and Electricity price brakes - Gas & Heating (€56 billion over 2023-2024)
✓
Gas and Electricity price brakes – Electricity (€43 billion over 2023-2024)
✓
Tax reduction on gas consumption (€11.2 billion over 2022-2024)
✓
CO2 price increase postponed to 2024 (€2 billion in 2023)
✓
Temporary cost containment of electricity price increases – rail transport operators (€1.125
billion in 2023)
✓
Creation of gas reserves to maintain security of supply in Germany (€2.5 billion in 2023)
Two (2) subsidies reported in the previous inventory exercise have been taken out of the current
inventory for scoping reason
:
✘ Bonus payments for families with children and benefit recipients (€9 billion in 2022)
✘ Local/regional public transport monthly pass for 9 euros (€2.5 billion in 2022)
Estimations:
For certain subsidies that do not relate particularly to a single energy carrier, we have broken down
the total amount based on the energy mix/electricity mix. The energy mix data was taken from the
“evaluation tables”, published by AGEB AG Energiebilanzen e.V. This method was used, for
example, for the Energy tax exemption and reduction for electricity generation. However, the
energy mix/electricity mix for 2021 is still provisional and the 2022’s data has not yet been
published, so we have estimated the amounts using the shares of the provisional 2021’s energy
mix.
Data collection boundaries:
No specific investigation has been led in the current inventory to collect additional federal
subsidies in the mobility sector (e.g. electromobility, alternative fuels, etc.)). Likewise, we focused
the subsidy data research at the federal level only, leaving the regional level (i.e. Länder) aside.
General observation
The Federal Office of Environment (Umweltbundesamt) releases a
report on potentially
environmental harmful subsidies (“
Umweltschädliche Subventionen in Deutschland”), however
with an irregular frequency. The latest report was published in October 2021. Every two years, the
ministry of finance releases the
federal subsidies report (Subventionsbericht), covering the
actual subsidy amount for the past two years and estimates for the current and the following year.
The last report was published in August 2021 and the following one is allegedly expected for August
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
2023.
Therefore, the current subsidy inventory update keeps relying on the August 2021’s
federal subsidy report, pending the publication of the next report.
However, the said document does not report all the subsidies, especially those related to EEG
payments and exemptions/reductions, as they are not financed from the federal budget but from
the EEG-surcharge. Therefore, the federal government does not consider the feed-in tariffs as
subsidies. In our analysis, however, we do consider them as subsidies, since Germany enables the
promotion of renewable energies with the EEG.
Since January 2021, two new regulations are in force in Germany: the
EEG 2021 and the
KWKG
2020. These changes will have an impact on the upcoming subsidies and several changes have
been introduced. Among others, the legal framework for renewable energy plants for which the
twenty-year remuneration period expires from 2021 (Post-EEG-Anlagen/ post-subsidy plants) will
be adjusted. The EEG 2021 ensures that grid operators are still obliged to purchase the electricity
from the power plants that run out from the feed-in tariff scheme and pay a renumeration based
on the technology-specific exchange price. "Southern quotas" are intended to ensure that enough
wind power is developed in southern Germany to reduce the amount of transmission from north
to south.
In 2022, the estimated feed-in-subsidies from the EEG-surcharge and related
exemptions/reductions declined by about €6.5 billion compared to estimated 2021 values. This is
mainly due to an increase in market prices, as the grid operators who pay the feed-in tariff to the
power plant operators receive a refund if the market price is lower than the feed-in tariff. Thus, the
higher the market price, the lower the refund.
Because of the expected increase of the EEG-surcharge for the coming years, the government set
a grant from the federal budget of €10.8 billion for 2021 and €3.25 billion 2022 to relieve electricity
consumers. This means, that’s the funding source has shifted from electricity consumers to federal
budget, with no impact on the amount paid to power plant operators related to the EEG feed-in
tariffs/premiums.
From July 2022, the EEG-surcharge has been fully abolished and replaced by the “Energy and
Climate Fund”, which is financed by revenues from auctions of certificates of the European
Emission Trading System and the 2021 introduced carbon tax. The goal is to relieve households
and industries.
As part of the “Easter Package”, on January 1, 2023, the EEG 2023 has come into force and
amends the previous EEG versions with the strong ambition to accelerate the expansion of
renewable energies and reach energy and climate national goals. Among other things, higher
remuneration rates for new photovoltaic systems on rooftops have been enforced; innovative
concepts for combining renewables with local hydrogen-based electricity storage and new RES
auctions planning/volumes with new rules has been detailed in the law.
As part of the “Easter Package”,
the Offshore Wind Energy Act (WindSeeG) 2023 has also been
amended to also accelerate the development of offshore wind projects. €1.5 billion aid is notified
to be allocated for the 2023-2026 period.
As part of the “Easter Package”, the
Energy Financing Act (EnFG) 2022, known in draft form as the
Energy Surcharge Act (EnUG) brings together all the energy-related surcharges (i.e. EEG surcharge,
KWK and Offshore surcharges) and rules out the abolition of the EEG surcharge for end consumers
from July 2022.
It also prolongs and redefines the surcharge reduction rules for electricity-
intensive industry, railway industry and implements a surcharge exemption for green
hydrogen-producing companies, starting from 2023.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
The
federal support for efficient buildings (
Bundesförderung für effiziente Gebäude “BEG”) has
been launched in 2021 and remains a significant federal grant amounting to €2.8 billion in 2022. It
combines previous programmes, such as the CO2 building restoration programme and incentive
programme for energy efficiency, the promotion of heating system optimization via highly efficient
heat pumps and the promotion of single measures for the use of renewable energy for heating.
Outstanding payments from those previous programmes will continue to be listed under the old
programme names. In total the building sector has been increasingly supported. In 2022, together
with outstanding payments of the expiring programs (€5 billion from outstanding payments of the
predecessors) and €2.8 billion from the new BEG, more than €7.8 billion are reserved for the
building sector compared to €2.6 billion in 2020.
The subsidy
Promotion of single measures for the use of renewable energy
(Markteinführungsprogramm zur Förderung des Einsatzes erneuerbarer Energien) to promote
renewable heating systems increased from €250 million in 2019 to €2.1 billion in 2022. The strong
increase could be explained in parts by the introduction of a replacement premium for oil heating
systems (Ölaustauschprämie) in 2020.
The subsidies for
CO2 building restoration programme and incentive programme for energy
efficiency (Förderung von Maßnahmen der Energieeffizienz und erneuerbarer Energien im
Gebäudebereich)
rose continuously and increased sharply between 2020 (€1.9 billion), 2021 and
2022 (€2.9 billion). The sharp increase might be explained by the announced end of applications
for this subsidy.
Also, in the
transport sector new subsidies have been launched, such as grants for the purchase
of commercial vehicles with alternative, climate-friendly drives (€414 million) and the promotion of
generation facilities of electricity-based fuels and advanced biofuels (€255 million). The German
government is keeping it relatively open as to which alternative fuels can be promoted to allow
certain degree of technology openness.
Furthermore, the subsidies for
charging infrastructure for electric vehicle have increased from
€11.5 million in 2019 to €1,7 billion in 2022. Grants for the purchase of electric vehicles have
increased from €65 million in 2020 to €2.1 billion in 2022.
Besides, the government introduced a
programme to decarbonise the industry in 2021. The
estimated expenditures for this programme in 2022 are €1.2 billion.
In November 2021, the federal government paid €2.428 billion to nuclear power plant operators
for the
compensation for nuclear phase-out. Of the total payments, Vattenfall received €1.4
billion and RWE €0.9 billion. Smaller amounts were paid to EnBW and PreussenElektra (subsidiary
of E.ON). The level of the paid amount has been set by a legal decision, which was preceded by a
long legal process. The nuclear phase-out was decided in July 2011 after the accident in Fukushima.
However, the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) demanded compensation
payments to the energy suppliers, which – after multiple adjustments – led to the final payments
set out in the Eighteenth Act Amending the Atomic Energy Act of 10th August 2021 (Achtzehntes
Gesetz zur Änderung des Atomgesetzes). According to the competent authorities, the payment is
not a subsidy as it is based on a court decision.
Within the serious context of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and its aftermath on the German
energy security, the German government approved the provision of
€17 billion rescue package
to bail-out utility company Uniper. In early September 2022, Uniper reported a €12 billion loss
from the energy stock that prompted the German government to buy a majority share of the
company .After the publication of the new recovery package (29.09.2022), the company will be fully
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
nationalized.
The total provision included on this package finally rase up to €34.5 billion,
cleared by the European Commission (December 2022).
Likewise, in June 2022, a €7.5 billion loan has been granted by the KfW to SEFE GmbH (ex
Gazprom Germania) to save the company against Russian sanctions from insolvency. It will
be ensured that the loan can only be used for SEFE's business operations and to maintain gas
supplies and cannot flow to Russia. In a next step, the Federal Government will examine
possibilities to convert the loan into equity in order to ensure security of supply in the long term.
The voting shares of the new trustee have been transferred from Gazprom to the Federal Network
Agency under the Energy Security Act to secure the national ownership of the company.
Observation about FFS
The
subsidy for the selling of German coal to the electricity grid and steel industry as well
as decommissioning costs (Zuschüsse für den Absatz deutscher Steinkohle zur Verstromung,
zum Absatz an die Stahlindustrie sowie zum Ausgleich von Belastungen infolge von
Kapazitätsanpassungen) has followed a decreasing trend that was interrupted by a strong peak in
2020 (€1.9 billion). The peak is be explained by on-time payments to manage contaminated sites.
For 2021 and 2022 payments of €260 million are budgeted, while in 2017 the budget was at €1
billion. The continuous reduction is the result of the phase-out of coal subsidies by the end of 2018.
With the closure of the last two hoard coal mines in 2018, subsidies for the sale of coal have ended
and since then ongoing grants are only provided for decommissioning costs.
The most important fossil fuel subsidy in budget terms is the
concession fee reduction and
exemption for natural gas (Sondervertragskunden bei den Konzessionsabgaben)
at a constant
€2.1 billion per year. Other fossil fuel subsidies, most of which take the form of benefits in tax
expenditures, have remained constant over the years.
The
electricity price compensation for companies for indirect costs from the EU-ETS has
almost quadrupled between 2019 (€218 million) and 2022 (€828 million). The compensation is
always paid for the costs of the previous year. The increase could be explained by the rising
certificate prices (5th Jan. 2018: €7.7/tonne; 5th Jan. 2021: €32.7/tonne).
The electricity price compensation for companies for indirect costs from the EU-ETS for the next
period: 2021-2030 has been notified to the European Commission and cleared in August 2022 for
a total estimated budget of €27.5 billion over 2021-2030. The measure will be financed by the
Energy & Climate fund of the federal budget.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
2022 has been an exceptional year with significant amounts of subsidies to address the high energy
context in Germany. The German State budgeted three (3) different “relief packages”
(Entlastungspaket I, II & III) including strict energy-related aid programs and economy/inflation-
related or specific (“tailor-made’”) measures. According to the
IFO Institute, the Government’s three
relief packages will cost around €135 billion over 2022-2024 (energy and non-energy related
subsidies included).
Besides the relief packages, the 2022 Tax Relief Act was approved by the Federal Parliament in May
2022, including among other things the Energy Tax Reduction Act (“EnergieStSenkG”).
Eventually, in September 2022, the Federal Government announced a €200 billion so-called
“economic protective shield” (“Abwehrschirm”), including a major energy-related subsidy to cap the
prices of gas and electricity (“Gas- und Strompreisbremse”) up to €99 billion.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Nota Bene: In our current inventory, we adopted a conservative approach to strictly include energy-
related subsidies and exclude low income/economy/inflation/tailor-made subsidies. Therefore, we
did not list all the aid measures from the consecutive relief packages, Tax Relief Act and Economic
Protective Shield. Please find below the detailed list of reported energy-related subsidies due to
the recent tense energy context:
Relief Package I:
•
Abolition of the EEG surcharge (€6.6 billion in 2022). The EEG-surcharge suppression has
been voted to be effective as soon as July 2022 from December 2022 as initially planned in
order to relieve German citizens's electricity bills in the high energy costs context.
•
One-time heating cost subsidy for low-income households (€370 million in 2022). €270 one-off
lump sum should be paid by the end of 2022 to low-income households. Two person
households receive €350, for each additional person €70 are paid representing a total
estimated budget of €370 million. Students and trainees who receive financial support
(BAföG/Ausbildungsgeld), receive a subsidy of €230 if they do not live with their parents.
Relief Package II:
•
Energy price flat rate for employees subject to income tax (€10.4 billion in 2022). Employed
people who are subject to income tax received a one-time lump sum of 300 euros gross to
compensate for the high energy costs.
•
Reduction of tax rates for diesel, gasoline, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas fuels (€3.2
billion in 2022). Lower energy taxes on motor fuels for three months - from early June to
late August - by as much as EU directives allow
(also included in the 2022 Tax Relief Act).
Relief Package III:
•
Second heating cost subsidy for low-income households (€812.3 million in 2023) should be paid
from early 2023 to low-income households: Students/ Apprentices (via "AFBG") €345 and
people granted with housing benefit: €415-€540.
• Tax
reduction on gas consumption (€11.2 billion over 2022-2024). In the future, the tax on gas
consumption will be 7% instead of 19%. This should apply until March 2024. Thus, a case
in point: A four-person household with a gas consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours per
year will be relieved by almost 400 euros per year as a result of the federal government's
planned reduction in VAT from 19 to 7 percent.
•
Energy price flat rate for retired workers (€6.4 billion in 2022). Retired workers received a one-
time lump sum of 300 euros gross to compensate for the high energy costs.
•
Energy price flat rate for students and professional students (€700 million in 2023). Students
and professional students received a one-time lump sum of 200 euros gross to
compensate for the high energy costs.
•
CO2 price increase postponed to 2024 (€2 billion in 2023). After the introduction of national
CO2 pricing in January 2021, the price for a ton was initially 25 euros. In 2022, the price rose
to 30 euros per ton. In order to further relieve citizens and companies of energy costs, the
increase in the CO2 price for heating oil, natural gas and fuel by a further five euros due at
the beginning of 2023 has been postponed by 2024.
Economic Protective Shield (€200 billion):
•
Gas and Electricity price brakes – Electricity (€43 billion over 2023-2024). An electricity price
brake is intended to help reduce electricity costs overall.
The electricity price is capped
at 40 cents per kilowatt hour for private consumers and small companies.
This
applies to the basic requirement of 80 percent of historical consumption - usually
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
measured against the previous year. The regular market price only has to be paid for the
remaining consumption that goes beyond this.
For medium-sized and large companies
with more than 30,000 kilowatt hours of annual consumption, the cap is 13 cents (net
working price) for 70 percent of historical consumption - usually measured against the
previous year. They also pay the regular market price for the excess consumption.
Application starts in January 2023.
•
Gas and Electricity price brakes - Gas & Heating (€56 billion over 2023-2024). For private
households, small and medium-sized companies with less than 1.5 million kilowatt hours
of gas consumption per year and for clubs, the gas price cap is 12 cents per kilowatt hour.
The capped price for district heating is 9.5 cents per kilowatt hour. This capped, lower price
applies to a contingent of 80 percent of the annual consumption forecast in September
2022. The normal market price must be paid for the remaining consumption.
Large
companies with a gas consumption of more than 1.5 million kWh per year receive 70
percent of their gas consumption, based on their consumption in 2021, at a guaranteed
net working price of 7 ct/kWh. Heat customers receive 70 percent of their consumption, on
which the September 2022 discount is based, at a guaranteed energy price of 7.5 ct/kWh.
Application in March 2023, retroactively cover Jan. and Feb. 2023.
Greece
Situation vs previous inventory
Amounts of Service of General Interest (SGI) and Social Electricity Tariff for Domestic vulnerable
Customers since 2018 have been revised and updated thanks to exchange with DEDDIE. Revised
amounts of SGI on the period 2018-2021 are half higher (+ €780 million) compared previous
inventory.
32 new subsidies have been added, including 15 new subsidies addressing rising energy price
detailed in the part “Policies implemented to address rising energy price”.
Support to natural gas infrastructure projects:
✓
Development of natural gas networks medium and low pressure:
o in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (€6.4 million grant between 2017 and 2021)
o In the region of Central Macedonia (€2.9 million grant between 2017 and 2023)
o In the region of Sterea Ellada (€10.6 million grant between 2017 and 2021)
o in the Western Region. (€12 million grant in 2021)
✓
Development of natural gas transmission and distribution systems in Western Macedonia
(€12.8 million grant between 2021 and 2023)
✓
Development of low and medium pressure natural gas networks in the city of Megalopolis
(€3.6 million grant between 2021 and 2023)
✓
Development of low and medium pressure natural gas networks in the city of Florina (€8.7
million grant between 2021 and 2023)
✓
Construction of LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis (€166 million grant in 2021)
✓
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) flue gas compression station (€3.4 million grant between 2019
and 2022)
✓
Metering/Regulating (M/R) Stations in Karditsa, Trikala and Ag. Theodori (€3.4 million grant
state participation)
✓
Metering Regulating Station in N. Mesimvria for the connection of NNGTS with TAP (€8.1
million grant between 2017 and 2021)
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker loading station at Revithoussa LNG
station (€2.4 million grant between 2020 and 2022)
Support to electricity storage:
✓
Financial support in favour of electricity storage facilities (€341 million over the period
2021-2025)
✓
Pumped Hydro plant – Amfilochia (€250 million over the period 2022-2025)
Support to energy efficiency:
✓
The Operational Programme "Eastern Macedonia and Thrace" 2021 – 2027 (€8.9 million
over the period 2021-2027)
✓
Saving Autonomy (€205 million in 2023)
Support to energy production:
✓
IPCEI Hydrogen European programme (€60 million in 2023)
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
End 2021, initially €9 for the first 300 kWh consumed per month, a subsidy on the electricity bills
was later increased to €18 for low voltage consumers and €24 for the beneficiaries of the social
household tariff. In January 2022, the subsidy for households was then raised to €42 for the first
300 kWh and €65/MWh for businesses. For households included in the Social Housing Tariff (CTO)
the subsidy will amount to 180 €/MWh, i.e. 90% of the increase.
Heating allowances caps and inclusion criteria have been expanded and the government estimates
that the number of beneficiaries will exceed 1 million, compared to 700,000 in 2020.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price are estimated to have cost around €10 billion
in 2022.
For January 2022, natural gas has also been subsidised for both households and firms at €20/MWh
and €30/MWh respectively. VAT subsidies have also been implemented for both groups.
Some of the funding to shield consumers up to December 2021 were funded through the Special
Support Fund for the energy transition, with at least €150 million diverted from the increased
revenue from the Carbon Emissions Trading Rights System for Greece in 2021. However, the total
cost of the measures is around €500 million, while the cost of the January 2022 package (for the
month of January alone) is estimated to be €400 million.
Government announced €100 million from the Recovery and Resilience Fund for the construction
of photovoltaic stations by municipal energy communities to be used to provide power to
vulnerable households.
In March 2022, the government allowed €65/MWh subsidy to the industrial sector to minimize the
wholesale electricity prices observed after the start of the war in Ukraine (€360/MWh on the Greek
exchange).
In April 2022, the government also introduced a one-time support cheque of €200 for all low-
income pensioners.
In May 2022, Finance Minister announced a new package worth €3.2 billion to address soaring
energy prices. Prime Minister also said that the government will set a ceiling on wholesale
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
electricity prices and refund up to 60% of all the surcharges that electricity consumers with annual
incomes of up to €45,000 have paid from December 2021 to May 2022.
In July 2022, Greece announced an extension of the subsidies for households and businesses for
the month of July, costing the government more than €700 million. These subsidies award
€200/MWh to households to cover some 84% of the rising energy bills, €192/MWh to shops,
€213/MWh to farmers and €148/MWh to industry.
In August, energy bill subsidies have been extended. Households received €639/MWh covering
94% of the rise in energy prices. For small and medium sized businesses, the aid has been of
€604/MWh. Farmers received €639/MWh, and industries received €342/MWh.
In September 2022, the government announced it would pay out an additional 1.1 billion euros to
households and businesses to shield them from the rising energy prices ahead of winter.
Households with monthly consumption up to 500 kWh, will receive €436/MWh. This compensates
consumers for about 90% of the rise in energy bills. For households consuming above 501 kWh
per month, the subsidies will compensate for about 70-80% of the rise in prices.
Businesses with consumption over 2000 kWh received €436/MWh, farmers received €436/MWh.
In addition to these benefits, a €50/MWh subsidy is further offered to consumers who cut their
average daily consumption by 15% year on year.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price are estimated to have cost around €11 billion
in 2022, representing more than 5% of Greek GDP. This includes approximately €5.5 billion to limit
electricity prices to businesses, and a further €3.8 billion to limit prices for households. The total
energy subsidization package includes a further 12 subsidies, listed with their amounts here:
1. Electricity bill subsidies (€100 million)
2. Power to vulnerable households (€100 million)
3. Tax return on excise duty for diesel fuel used by farmers (€72 million)
4. Subsidy on natural gas consumption by households (€93 million)
5. Subsidy on natural gas consumption by businesses (€347 million)
6. Subsidy on 80% of the rise of electricity costs for rural residents (€28 million)
7. Increase in heating allowance and incentives for replacing natural gas boilers with
alternatives (€150 million)
8. Additional cost of CG operators for electricity and fuel (€500 million)
9. Prepaid fuel cards program (€300 million)
10. Diesel subsidy of 12 cents/litre (€210 million)
11. Tax driver grants of €200 to offset elevated fuel prices (€5 million)
12. Refund of 60% of the increase in electricity costs for the first residence of households with
an income of up to €45,000 (€296 million)
13. Heating oil subsidy (20 cents per litre) (€94 million)
14. Subsidy on household electricity consumption (€3.5 billion)
15. Subsidy on business electricity consumption (€5.5 billion)
Hungary
Situation vs previous inventory
To date, many of the reported subsidies are still unknown for 2022 and beyond. As regards feed-
in tariffs, a desegregated overview of METÁR is not available for 2020 and 2021, only the total
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
expenditure Is currently accounted for, along with a tentative maximum budget. It interesting to
note than from August to December 2021, no KÁT/METAR feed-in tariffs has been paid due to
negative spread between subsidies and electricity prices on the market; the government will
therefore pay €118 m (HUF 44.7 bn) to large consumers adversely affected by the recent energy
price increases in 2022. Furthermore, it is important to make the distinction between KÁT and
METÁR as separate systems. KÁT denotes the out-of-date Feed-in tariffs system that used to be the
operating practice for alternative energy projects, this program began to be phased out at the
beginning of 2017, after which date no new contracts would be written. Existing contracts which
pre-date this however will be honored, hence why KÁT continues to exist into 2023. METÁR acts as
the new system for projects completed since the beginning of 2017, which uses a different
compensation method.
Further support to energy efficiency for businesses and households is in place from 2021
respectively through grants (EEEOP Plus) and soft loans (Green Home Program), totalling around
€850 million announced for 2022-2023. Furthermore, due to the 2022 gas price increases, the
government has created or bolstered programs for consumer price protection, though the
pressures of shortages have forced them to end the most ambitious of these policies in December
2023.
The following changes have been observed since the previous inventory:
✓
The Coal penny charge appears to have ended at the end of 2020, at least temporarily as
the expenditure in 2021 was 0.
✓
Funding estimates were given regarding Hungary’s national hydrogen strategy
✘ Renewable Energy Support System (METÁR): no disaggregation by energy carrier published
by the regulator for 2020 and 2021, no new data for 2022 as of April 2023.
3 new subsidies have been identified and added to the inventory:
✓
Environmental and Energy Efficiency Operational Program Plus (2021-2027) (€318 million
as of 2022)
✓
FGS Green Home Program (€58 million as of 2022)
✓
Residential Support scheme for electrification and rooftop solar (2022-2025, approx. HUF
200 billion, or 523 mm EUR) Support to small gas stations and temporarily waiving energy
efficiency requirements (2022-Ongoing, HUF 15.6 mm dispensed so far)
General observation
The information on support to energy efficiency and support to energy demand is very limited,
with hardly information in English language. Approx. half of 2022 figures are not yet available.
Linguistic barrier continues to be an issue, with Hungarian governmental websites lacking
significant English language infrastructure and documentation. Furthermore, technical issues arise
with using research links from past years as government websites tend to change and otherwise
reorganize in such a way that makes links useless. Furthermore, OECD figures contain some
anomalous changes to expenditure, such as a spike in expenditures for the household utility
subsidy in 2020 of over 10x the expenditure of 2019. A 75% decrease in the expenditures of district
heating units was observed in 2021. The data for the nuclear waste and powerplant policy also
contained some anomalies, namely a large and temporary increase in the budget of the country’s
nuclear regulator by 300% for 2020, and 200% for 2021 when compared to 2022 and 2019 figures.
This could be explained by policy changes, or elements like scheduled maintenance however
satisfactory answers are still to come.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Policies implemented to address rising energy prices
On 11 November, government announced a price-ceiling of €1.30 per litre on petrol and diesel.
This cap was extended until December 2022, it was ended due to difficulties importing fuel. Existing
programs which capped residential gas and electricity prices have been reaffirmed, though prices
have been raised once certain usage limits are met (e.g., using more than a certain amount of kWh
of electricity in a year)
Italy
Situation vs previous inventory
During the previous inventory exercise,
four (4) new subsidies had been added to the database
and updated for the current inventory:
✓
Urgent measures to contain the effects of energy price increases - Reduction of system
charges for electricity users (< 16.5 kv) (€2 billion in 2021 and €1.8 billion in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures to contain the effects of energy price increases - Reduction of charges on
gas bills for all users (€480 million in 2021 and €3.082 billion in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures to contain the effects of energy price increases - increase of social bonus
(€450 million in 2021, €3.2 billion in 2022 and €2.5 billion in 2023)
✓
Electricity bonus for charging stations (€90 million in 2021, 0€ in 2022, €40 million in 2023
and 2024)
Two (2) historical subsidies, which were not included in the previous listing, have been added to
the database:
✓
Measures to contain the effects of price increases in the electricity and natural gas sectors
with the strengthening of the electricity and gas social bonus (DL2021/ n. 130, Art.3 & Art.
5) (€1.9 billion in 2021)
✓
Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) on Batteries (€700 million in 2019)
On the contrary
, one (1) historical subsidy, which was included in the previous listing, has been
removed from the current inventory for scoping reason:
✘ Incentives for electric, hybrid and low-emission cars and motorcycles (€650 million in 2022,
2023 and 2024)
Then,
twenty-seven (27) new subsidies have been identified and added in the current inventory:
✓
Urgent measures to contain the effects of energy price increases - Price cap on gas
distribution (cut on gas VAT) (€2.5 billion in 2022)
✓
Capacity market (€1.3 billion in 2022, €1.5 billion in 2023, €1.5 billion in 2024)
✓
Urgent measures to […] contain the effects of price increases in the electricity sector -
Zeroing of system charges for electricity users (>16.5 kv) (€1.2 billion in 2022)
✓
Zeroing of system charges for the electricity sector (€6 billion in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures to […] contain the effects of price increases in the electricity sector - Tax
credit for energy-intensive companies (€1.2 billion in 2022)
✓
Extraordinary contribution, in the form of a tax credit, in favor of companies with a high
consumption of natural gas (€2 billion in 2022)
✓
Extraordinary contribution, in the form of a tax credit, in favor of companies with a high
consumption of electricity (€1.037 billion in 2022)
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Urgent measures to counter the economic and humanitarian effects of the Ukrainian crisis
(DL 2022 / n. 21) - Increase in the tax credit in favor of energy-intensive companies and
companies with a high consumption of natural gas (Art. 5) (€460 million in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures on national energy policies, business productivity and investment
attraction, as well as on social policies and the Ukrainian crisis. (DL2022/n. 50) - Increase in
tax credits in favor of companies for the purchase of electricity and natural gas (Art. 2)
(€511 million in 2022)
✓
Contribution, in the form of a tax credit, in favor of companies for the purchase of natural
gas (€508 million in 2022)
✓
Contribution, in the form of a tax credit, in favor of companies for the purchase of electricity
(€1.859 billion in 2022)
✓
Further urgent measures in the field of national energy policy, business productivity, social
policies and for the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR)
(DL2022/ n.144) - Extraordinary contribution, in the form of a tax credit, in favor of
companies for the purchase of electricity and natural gas (Art. 1) (€8.586 in 2022, €1 billion
in 2023)
✓
Urgent support measures in the energy sector and public finance (DL2022/n. 176) -
Extraordinary contribution, in the form of a tax credit, in favor of companies for the
purchase of electricity and natural gas, for the month of December 2022 (€2.726 in 2022,
€318 million in 2023)
✓
Interministerial decree Ministry of Finance (MEF) - Ministry of Ecological Transition (MITE)
(Decree of March 18, 2022) - Reduction of taxes on certain energy products used as fuel
(€308 million in 2022)
✓
Interministerial decree Ministry of Finance (MEF) - Ministry of Ecological Transition (MITE)
(Decree of April 6, 2022) - Reduction of taxes on certain energy products used as fuel (€329
million in 2022)
✓
Reduction of taxes on certain energy products used as fuel (€6.304 billion in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures regarding excise duties on fuel and support for local authorities and the
territories of the Marche affected by exceptional meteorological events (DL2022/n.179) -
Provisions regarding excise duties on certain fuels (Art.1) (€976 million in 2022)
✓
€450m support scheme for the production of renewable hydrogen to foster the transition
to a net-zero economy (€450 million in 2023)
✓
Urgent measures for the containment of electricity and natural gas costs, for the
development of renewable energies and for the relaunch of industrial policies (DL 2022
/n.17) - Contribution in the form of a tax credit for energy efficiency in the southern regions
(Art.14) (€145 million in 2023 and 2024)
✓
Urgent measures for the containment of electricity and natural gas costs, for the
development of renewable energies and for the relaunch of industrial policies (DL 2022/ n.
17) - Interventions in favor of the road haulage sector (Art. 6) (€80 million in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures on national energy policies, business productivity and investment
attraction, as well as on social policies and the Ukrainian crisis (DL 2022/n. 50) - Tax credit
for road hauliers and measures in favor of companies providing bus passenger transport
services (Art. 3) (€497 million in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures on national energy policies, business productivity and investment
attraction, as well as on social policies and the Ukrainian crisis (DL2022/ n.50) - Provisions
to accelerate the storage of natural gas (Art. 5 bis) (€4 billion in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures in the field of energy, water emergency, social and industrial policies
(DL2022/ n.115) - Urgent provisions on transport (Art. 9) (€70 million in 2022)
✓
Further urgent measures in the field of national energy policy, business productivity, social
policies and for the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
(DL2022/n.144) - Urgent provisions on local and regional public transport (Art. 6) (€100
million in 2022)
✓
Further urgent measures in the field of national energy policy, business productivity, social
policies and for the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR)
(DL2022/n.144) - Provisions for the support of the transport sector (Art. 14) (€100 million
in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures to counter the economic and humanitarian effects of the Ukrainian crisis
(DL 2022 / n. 21) - Fuel bonus for employees (Art. 2) (€9.9 million in 2022)
✓
Support scheme for the promotion of biomethane (€453 billion budget allocated over
2022-mid2026)
The following changes have been observed since the previous inventory:
- No updated figures have been found about the Energy audit cofinancing programme
aiming to promote energy efficiency. This is due to no new call for bids since 2017.
Highlights
Significant increases/decreases have been noticed since the last inventory, including (non-
exhaustive list):
- White certificates subsidy delivered by the Government decreased by 29% (from €554
million in 2020 to €393 million in 2021);
- Net Metering subsidy increased by 85% (from €326 million in 2020 to €602 million in 2021)
- “Ritiro Dedicato” subsidy on Solar PV technology increased by 180% (from €233 million in
2020 to €658 million in 2021)
- “CIP6” subsidy for Plants fueled by process fuels or residues or energy recoveries decreased
by 73% (from €307 million in 2020 to €82 million in 2021)
- “
General costs of the electricity system: reductions of the renewable and cogeneration surcharge
for railways” subsidy decreased by 50% (from €444 million in 2020 to €220 million in 2021)
- “
General costs of the electricity system: charge for nuclear decommissioning” subsidy
decreased by 53% (from 443 million in 2020 to €208 million in 2021)
- Reduced VAT rate on electricity consumption subsidy decreased by 50% (from €1.944 in 2020
to €947 million in 2021)
- “Excise tax exemption on electricity for self-consumption” subsidy increased drastically in 2019
(reaching €123 million) compared to previous and 2020-2025 years (around €55 million)
- “Excise tax reduction on natural gas for industrial uses” subsidy is expected to drop according
to Ministry of Finance’s provisional budget for 2023-2054, for starters to address gas price
rising.
- “Urgent measures to contain the effects of energy price increases - Reduction of charges on gas
bills for all users” subsidy was multiplied by around 6.5 (from €480 million in 2021 to €3.82
billion in 2022)
- “Urgent measures to contain the effects of energy price increases - increase of social bonus”
subsidy increased by more than 7 (from €450 million in 2021 to €3.22 billion in 2022)
General observation
Italy has put strong effort on transparency and can be considered as a leading country in terms of
transparency.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Various policies have been carried-out to address rising energy prices (electricity and gas prices)
since mid-2021, including a consecutive number of “ urgent aid decrees” – Aiuti Decreti over 2022:
• Decreto-legge del 17/05/2022 n. 50 – “Aiuti Decreto” on urgent measures on national
energy policies, business productivity and investment attraction, as well as on social
policies and the Ukrainian crisis
• Decreto-legge del 09/08/2022 n. 115 – “Aiuti-bis Decreto” on urgent measures in the field
of energy, water emergency, social and industrial policies
• Decreto-legge del 23/09/2022 n. 144 – “Aiuti-ter Decreto” on further urgent measures in
the field of national energy policy, enterprise productivity, social policies and for the
implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR)
• Decreto-legge del 18/11/2022 n.176 – “Aiuti -quater Decreto” on urgent support measures
in the energy and public finance sector.
For this year’s inventory exercise, out of the twenty-nine (29) added (new + historical) subsidies),
twenty-six (26) subsidies were related to the rising energy price context and notably enacted by
the different “Aiuti decrees”:
✓
Measures to contain the effects of price increases in the electricity and natural gas sectors
with the strengthening of the electricity and gas social bonus (DL2021/ n. 130, Art.3 & Art.
5) (€1.908 billion in 2021)
✓
Urgent measures to contain the effects of energy price increases - Price cap on gas
distribution (cut on gas VAT) (€2.488 billion in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures to […] contain the effects of price increases in the electricity sector -
Zeroing of system charges for electricity users (>16.5 kv) (€1.2 billion in 2022)
✓
Zeroing of system charges for the electricity sector (€6.015 in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures to […] contain the effects of price increases in the electricity sector - Tax
credit for energy-intensive companies (€1.24 billion in 2022)
✓
Extraordinary contribution, in the form of a tax credit, in favor of companies with a high
consumption of natural gas (€2.019 billion in 2022)
✓
Extraordinary contribution, in the form of a tax credit, in favor of companies with a high
consumption of electricity (€1.037 billion in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures to counter the economic and humanitarian effects of the Ukrainian crisis
(DL 2022 / n. 21) - Increase in the tax credit in favor of energy-intensive companies and
companies with a high consumption of natural gas (Art. 5) (€460 million in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures on national energy policies, business productivity and investment
attraction, as well as on social policies and the Ukrainian crisis. (DL2022/n. 50) - Increase in
tax credits in favor of companies for the purchase of electricity and natural gas (Art. 2)
(€511 million in 2022)
✓
Contribution, in the form of a tax credit, in favor of companies for the purchase of natural
gas (€508 million in 2022)
✓
Contribution, in the form of a tax credit, in favor of companies for the purchase of electricity
(€1.859 billion in 2022)
✓
Further urgent measures in the field of national energy policy, business productivity, social
policies and for the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR)
(DL2022/ n.144) - Extraordinary contribution, in the form of a tax credit, in favor of
companies for the purchase of electricity and natural gas (Art. 1) (€8.586 in 2022, €1 billion
in 2023)
✓
Urgent support measures in the energy sector and public finance (DL2022/n. 176) -
Extraordinary contribution, in the form of a tax credit, in favor of companies for the
purchase of electricity and natural gas, for the month of December 2022 (€2.726 in 2022,
€318 million in 2023)
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Interministerial decree Ministry of Finance (MEF) - Ministry of Ecological Transition (MITE)
(Decree of March 18, 2022) - Reduction of taxes on certain energy products used as fuel
(€308 million in 2022)
✓
Interministerial decree Ministry of Finance (MEF) - Ministry of Ecological Transition (MITE)
(Decree of April 6, 2022) - Reduction of taxes on certain energy products used as fuel (€329
million in 2022)
✓
Reduction of taxes on certain energy products used as fuel (€6.304 billion in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures regarding excise duties on fuel and support for local authorities and the
territories of the Marche affected by exceptional meteorological events (DL2022/n.179) -
Provisions regarding excise duties on certain fuels (Art.1) (€976 million in 2022)
✓
€450m support scheme for the production of renewable hydrogen to foster the transition
to a net-zero economy (€450 million in 2023)
✓
Urgent measures for the containment of electricity and natural gas costs, for the
development of renewable energies and for the relaunch of industrial policies (DL 2022
/n.17) - Contribution in the form of a tax credit for energy efficiency in the southern regions
(Art.14) (€145 million in 2023 and 2024)
✓
Urgent measures for the containment of electricity and natural gas costs, for the
development of renewable energies and for the relaunch of industrial policies (DL 2022/ n.
17) - Interventions in favor of the road haulage sector (Art. 6) (€80 million in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures on national energy policies, business productivity and investment
attraction, as well as on social policies and the Ukrainian crisis (DL 2022/n. 50) - Tax credit
for road haulers and measures in favor of companies providing bus passenger transport
services (Art. 3) (€497 million in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures on national energy policies, business productivity and investment
attraction, as well as on social policies and the Ukrainian crisis (DL2022/ n.50) - Provisions
to accelerate the storage of natural gas (Art. 5 bis) (€4 billion in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures in the field of energy, water emergency, social and industrial policies
(DL2022/ n.115) - Urgent provisions on transport (Art. 9) (€70 million in 2022)
✓
Further urgent measures in the field of national energy policy, business productivity, social
policies and for the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
(DL2022/n.144) - Urgent provisions on local and regional public transport (Art. 6) (€100
million in 2022)
✓
Further urgent measures in the field of national energy policy, business productivity, social
policies and for the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR)
(DL2022/n.144) - Provisions for the support of the transport sector (Art. 14) (€100 million
in 2022)
✓
Urgent measures to counter the economic and humanitarian effects of the Ukrainian crisis
(DL 2022 / n. 21) - Fuel bonus for employees (Art. 2) (€9.9 million in 2022)
Measures range from the
extension of the electricity and gas social bonus, the
reduction/cancellation of the general electricity system charges, several tax credits for
energy-intensive and non-energy intensive companies and several aids for the transport
sector.
Ireland
Situation vs previous inventory
Four new subsidies have been identified and added to the inventory:
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Electricity Costs Emergency Benefits Scheme I and II (overall 1.6€ billion over 2022-2023)
✓
Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) (overall €1.25 billion over 2022-2023)
✓
Add. VAT reduction on electricity and gas for hospitality (€900 million over the period 2020-
2023)
✓
Small Firms Investment in Energy Efficiency Scheme (€4 million in 2022)
General observation
The
PSO levies for the subsidies
Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (REFIT) have decreased
significantly from 2020 (€354 million) to 2021 (€46.95 million) and 2022 (€38.3 million) This is most
probably related to increasing electricity price on the spot market.
Due to unprecedented and sustained levels of wholesale electricity prices, the PSO levy for the
upcoming PSO Year 2022/23 is minus -€491.25 million, representing a decrease of €754.95 million
(-286.3%) from the 2021/22 PSO levy funding requirement of €263.7 million. The negative PSO Levy
for this year arises from the design of the new
Renewable Energy Support Scheme (RESS)
renewable support scheme, which means that renewable generators return market revenues
above a certain level to Levy customers, and also from the return of overpayments from a previous
period when wholesale prices and revenues increased above forecast levels.
Compared to 2021/22, this calculation represents an annual saving of €140.76 and €475.05 for
domestic and small commercial customers, respectively, and indicates an annual saving of
€57.43/kVA for medium/large commercial customers.
Since 2020 the subsidies for
Natural Gas Carbon Tax (NGCT) Exemption and
Solid Fuel Carbon
Tax (SFCT) Exemption could not be updated in the inventory. No data has been found in the OECD
statistics for taxes, nor in the latest Central Statistics Office publications on fossil subsidies.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Existing measures like (Solar PV Scheme or Local Authority Estate Energy Retrofit) have been
strengthen and several subsidies were introduced/announced due to the energy price increase:
✓
Additional VAT reduction on electricity (on top of existing VAT reduction) (€48 million
estimated in 2022)
✓
Additional VAT reduction on gas (on top of existing VAT reduction) (€42 million estimated
in 2022)
✓
Reduction excise duty petrol and green diesel (€550 million in 2022)
✓
Extra fuel allowance (on top of existing one) (€149 million in 2022)
✓
Electricity Costs Emergency Benefits Scheme I and II (overall 1.6€ billion over 2022-2023)
✓
Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) (overall €1.25 billion over 2022-2023)
Add. VAT reduction on electricity and gas for hospitality (€500 million in 2022-2023)
Latvia
Situation vs previous inventory
New subsidies have been identified and added to the inventory:
✓
Coverage of the mandatory procurement component of electricity bills
✓
Reduction of electricity system service component charge
✓
Reduction of natural gas consumption charge
✓
Reduction of district heating service fees
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Subsidies provided to vulnerable groups to combat rising energy prices
General observation
There are many missing values for 2021 since the tax report to update the various tax exemptions
is not available.
Overall, energy subsidies decrease significantly between 2020 and 2021. This is particularly due to
the
EU funding programs that ended in 2020. In the last year this subsidy was €570 million on a
total budget of €845 million.
2022 saw significant changes resulting from the extreme energy price highs experienced during
the period. Namely, feed-in tariffs were not paid due to high prices rendering them unnecessary.
This means that approximately €100 million in feed-in tariffs did not need to be paid, using 2023
estimates.
Additionally, certain tax exemptions have yet to be updated for the 2021-2022 fiscal years, thus
estimations will be required to get a more complete picture of 2021 and 2022 subsidies.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Four subsidies were introduced/announced due to the energy price increase in 2021 and 2022 (to
support households with the rising energy prices):
✓
Extra allowance low-income households
✓
Reduction mandatory procurement component
✓
50% reduction in fixed term electricity distribution tariffs
✓
Extra allowance residents over 60 and disabled
✓
Extra allowance households with children
The total subsidy that has been reserved for these measures is €450 million. The detailed
distribution per measure is not known.
Lithuania
Situation vs previous inventory
The following subsidy have been added:
✓
SB modernization fund by Siauliu Bank
✓
Private charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
✓
Installation of private electric car charging points for individuals in individual
homes/gardens
✓
Installation of private electric vehicle charging access points for natural persons in an
apartment building or on the plot of an apartment building
✓
Installation of private electric vehicle charging access points for legal entities at workplaces
✓
Installation of private electric vehicle charging access points for legal entities in an
apartment building or on the plot of an apartment building
✓
Investment support for solar power plants on land
✓
Installation of private solar power plants in households (newly installed solar power plant)
✓
Investments of generating consumers in the creation of new electricity generation
capacities using renewable energy sources throughout Lithuania
✓
Investment support for onshore wind farms
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Installation of a system of electrical energy storage devices
✓
Production and use of hydrogen
✓
Increasing biomethane gas production capacity
✓
Preparatory works for the development of offshore wind farms and the installation of
related infrastructure
✓
Compensation of part of the increase in the price of electricity and natural gas in
households
✓
Compensation of part of the increase in the price of electricity in other sectors other than
households
✓
Compensation of part of the increase in the price of energy services in households
✓
Compensation of part of the increase in the price of energy services in business
✓
Subsidies for companies operating in the most affected sectors to mitigate the effects of
energy price increases
✓
Modernization Fund: Renovation of public buildings of municipalities
✓
Modernization Fund: Renovation of central government public buildings by increasing
energy efficiency
✓
Apartment building renovation (modernization) program
See also the rising energy price section below.
General observation
Support to RES in 2021 is slightly higher than in 2020 with solar reaching its highest value ever with
a 68% increase compare to last year.
Subsidies concerning the EU investment 2014-2020 have been suppress as it was funded by the
EU and not the state.
The
Climate change programme subsidy have been updated with a new source.
Lithuania seemed to have phased out of
“Exemption of excise tax for natural gas used in public
transport” as it was not the state budget for 2022.
The amount of two tax exemption have dramatically increase between 2021 and 2022 :
• Reduction of excise tax for natural gas used as fuel for heating for business purposes (€3m
in 2021 and €145m in 2022).
• Exemption of excise tax for natural gas used in households (€2m in 2021 and €53m in
2022).
Support for Klaipėda LNG terminal: a one-off €448m grant has been reported in 2014. This partly
distorts the analysis across years. A stabilized amount of around €25m/y is budgeted for the period
2020-2024.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
In May 2022, the government took measures to compensate price increase in gas and electricity
for residential and business consumers:
✓
Compensation of the increase in energy prices for household consumers (€570m in 2022)
✓
Compensation of the increase in energy prices for business consumers (€120m in 2022)
Luxembourg
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Situation vs previous inventory
The following instruments have been added to the current inventory:
✓
Grant scheme for low CO2 vehicles 2017-2022
✓
Grant scheme for decentralized renewables in residential buildings 2017-2022
✓
Grant scheme for renovation of residential buildings 2017-2022
✓
Grant scheme for efficient new residential buildings 2017-2022
✓
Energy bonus for low income households 2022-Ongoing
✓
Stabilization of energy prices 2022-Ongoing
✓
Gas network fee subsidy 2022-Ongoing
✓
Introduction of energy tax credit 2022-Ongoing
✓
Aid for energy-intensive companies 2022-Ongoing
✓
Reduction of fuel taxes by 7,5 cents 2022-Ongoing
✓
Augmentation of the “Prime House” program 2022-Ongoing
The instrument Compensation for the indirect costs of EU ETS after 2012 has ended as per 2020.
It is continued the new Compensation for the indirect costs of EU ETS for the period 2021 – 2030.
General observation
No tax expenditure report provided by Ministry of Finance or Treasury.
For DSO subsidies for RES electricity the annual reports of a year are published at the end of the
next year. Hence, no reports are available with data for the year 2022 at the date of this study.
Subsidization for CHP, wastewater gas and waste wood appear to have either been changed or
ended as of 2021, as they are no longer part of the tariffs reports from the energy ministry.
One policy (“Reduced excise rate for petroleum products”), which was formerly calculated by the
OECD appears to no longer be being included in their list of tax subsidies. It has continued to be
included in the data, though updates for 2021 and beyond have not been found due to the lack of
knowledge surrounding the data’s methodological background.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
In the context of the energy price crisis the government has implemented the following measures:
• Coverage of natural gas network costs for residential customers as from 1 May 2022
• Various support schemes, tax credits and reduction of fuel price
• Tax reductions on fuel of 7,5 cents per liter
• Energy bonus given to low income households
• Aid to energy intensive companies
Malta
Situation vs previous inventory
The following instruments have been added to the current inventory:
✓
2020 Photovoltaic System (grants paid)
✓
2020 Battery Storage Scheme
✓
Financial Incentives in the form of grants to promote greener and sustainable transport
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
The Following Instruments have been removed from the current inventory (either out of scope or
out of timeframe):
✓
Grant for electric vehicles
✓
Grant for Electric Bicycles and Motorcycles
✓
Financial Incentives in the form of grants to promote greener and sustainable transport
✓
Energy Efficiency Measure
✓
2011 Solar water heater ERDF
✓
Compact fluorescent lamps
✓
2010 PV National
✓
2010 PV call 2
✓
2011 PV ERDF
✓
2009 Solar water heater
✓
2010 Solar water heater
✓
Energy audits
General observation
The total subsidies to address rising energy prices in 2023 is reported to be €508 million. This is
almost five times the sum of all subsidies in 2020 (€120 million). At the date of writing (May 2023),
much of the 2022 data was not yet available so it was not possible to implement yet.
The particularities of the Maltese subsidization system are such that it tends to operate in short-
term schemes (e.g., 2018 heat pump water heater subsidy). These schemes correspond to the year
in which the scheme was passed (i.e. the name of the bill which was passed would “2018 heat
pump…”) but at times may last several years depending upon whether the scheme is updated or
replaced in following years. This means that a 2018 scheme can continue paying out until 2021 for
example, whereafter it is largely replaced by the 2021 scheme. As such, these programs tend to
have short periods of high budgets, with longer periods of smaller payouts due to contracts
accrued during the scheme’s length, (i.e., paying out lump sums in 2019, 2020, then paying smaller
continuous payments for maintenance, etc. through from 2021-2026). This helps to explain the
strange accounting of programs like “2016 Photovoltaic system – ERDF”, “2019 Photovoltaic system
– ERDF”, et al.
The intelligent energy Europe program appears to have ended, at least per the IEE’s support, in
2013. However, expenditures of small amounts continue into 2017.
As of September 2022, the Caruana government of Malta have committed to over €1 billion in
energy and food subsidies over the next several years. According to country experts, this is
principally to help shield the country from energy price fluctuations due to LNG forming
approximately 80% of the country’s energy mix. Additionally, this policy is part of an inflation
reduction strategy, to help keep inflation from exceeding the European average. At present, there
is not enough data to disaggregate the different components of this subsidy package, as they were
only implemented in the second half of 2022, for now they are listed as part of the 2022 estimates
waiting to be confirmed once further documentation is available.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
The government has acted to address rising energy prices. Exact details are not known at the date
of writing.
✓
A collection of energy subsidies reported to be €508 million for 2023
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Energy support measures for households and companies (reported to total €800 million
for the maximum budget)
Netherlands
Situation vs previous inventory
Four new subsidies have been identified and added to the current inventory:
✓
Price ceiling for gas, electricity and district heating for households and SME with small
consumption connection
✓
Compensation for high energy prices for households with block connection known
✓
Compensation for energy costs for energy-intensive SMEs (TEK)
✓
VAT on solar panels from 21% to 0%
✓
Closing cost Hemweg Coal plant
✓
Temporary Energy Emergency Fund
✓
VAT on solar panels from 21% to 0%
✓
Aid to Twence for investment in CO2 capture technology
The following subsidy has been removed (out of the scope):
✘ Closing costs of the brand-new coal power plants
✘ BPM Tax exemption for zero emission vehicles
✘ MRB Tax exemption for zero emission vehicles
✘ Income tax reduction on additional tax for zero emission vehicles
✘ Income tax reduction on additional tax for fuel efficient cars
✘ Half rate MRB tax plugin hybrid cars
✘ Subsidy scheme for electric cars for private individuals
General observations
Degressive tariff structure for gas, and electricity was mentioned by the Dutch government in 2022
as a subsidy in the 'miljoenennota'. So the degressive tariff is included in the database as a subsidy.
to the change in categorisation of the “degressive tariff structure” for electricity and gas (which amounts
to around €5 bil ion in 2018). Prior to 2018 this mechanism was not categorised and reported by the
Dutch Government of as a proper “subsidy”. This change in classification has allowed to report the
amounts from 2018 until 2020. The country is the only one for which we have reported actual amounts
related to this mechanism, while we suspect it might not be reported in other countries.
The new scheme Cooperative energy production subsidy replaces Energy tax rebate for locally
generated sustainable energy scheme that ended April 2021.
In the 2021 inventory
Input exemption coal tax for dual use was included in
Tax exemption for
energy intensive processes. However, the updated overview Tax Rules 2004 – 2022 now makes
a distinction between the two.
Estimated values for
Input exemptions from coal tax for electricity production have been
replaced by actual values published in Tax Rules 2004 – 2023. A general comment on the
degressive tax system in The Netherlands. Energy subsidies in the Netherlands are relatively
lower than in most other EU countries according to data from the 2020 study. However, one
important tax measure that is not included in the definition of energy subsidies used is the
degressive system for energy taxes in the Netherlands in which smaller consumers (i.e.,
households) pay significantly higher tariffs per energy unit than large energy-intensive users. A
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
short calculation shows that for example increasing the tariff in the highest tax brackets to the
second highest bracket (both energy tax and ODE) would lead to 60 million of additional revenue
for gas and 540 million for electricity. The 2021 inventory included a subsidy for
Closing costs of
brand-new coal power plants. However, this subsidy has never materialized. Power plants that
were planned for closure have not been closed. Instead, the remaining fall under a new regulation
as of 2022 in which the CO2 emissions are capped at 35% of the maximum emission. An emission
cap comes down to a production cap and thus loss of revenue. Under the new regulation coal
plants are compensated for this loss of revenue under the scheme
Compensation for
emission/production cap for coal power plants. Unfortunately, the compensation subsidy is
confidential. The values for 2022 – 2024 are estimations from a national newspaper.
Data for the
Feed in Premiums has again been regrouped, as was the case the previous year.
Instead of categories by technology (i.e., solar, wind, etc.), the new categories are based on type of
energy carrier (i.e., renewable electricity, etc). Though for the purpose of analysis and comparison
with other countries the categories by technology have been kept. An estimation is made based
on budget distribution per technology and the total foreseen budget for Feed in Premium for 2022
and 2023. (for further details look at excel spreadsheet)
As per beginning 2022 the Dutch government has decided to end all subsidies for wood biomass.
Subsidy estimations for wood biomass are thus exclusively based on biomass installations that
have already secured a subsidy in the past. The estimation does not contain subsidies for new
biomass installations. The budget to support the production of renewable energy through Feed in
Premiums increases from €1.6 billion in 2020 to €2.4 billion in 2021. This represents an increase of
50% which is significant.
As in previous years a large part of the total energy subsidies concerns
reduction of energy taxes
for households.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Four new subsidies introduced due to the energy price increase since September 2022, and which
enter into force in 2023:
✓
Price ceiling for gas, electricity and district heating for households and SME with small
consumption connection (23,5 bn€)
✓
Compensation for high energy prices for households with block connection known
(amount not found)
✓
Compensation for energy costs for energy-intensive SMEs (TEK) (amount not found)
✓
Temporary Energy Emergency Fund (funded by the government and energy suppliers to
50m €)
Six subsidies were introduced/announced due to the energy price increase in 2021 and 2022 (to
support households with the rising energy prices):
✓
Tackling energy poverty in the context of rising energy prices
✓
Temporary reduction of energy tax for households (second package 11th of March 2022):
the reduction on VAT stopped at the end of 2022.
✓
One-time energy subsidy for low-income households: in 2023 an allowance of 1300 euros
per low-income household will be provided.
✓
Temporary reduction of excise duty on transport fuels for households: the reduction of
excise duty on oil, LPG and LNG was extended to June 2023.
✓
Compensation for rising energy costs in Dutch Caribbean: the reduction of excise duty on
oil, LPG and LNG was extended to June 2023.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
The total budget to address rising energy price amounts to €6.3 billion in 2022. This almost doubles
the total budget for energy subsidies. The total budget for energy subsidies will skyrocket in 2023
due to the cost of the price ceiling for gas, electricity and district heating for households for
household and SME with small consumption connection (23,5 bn€).
Poland
Situation vs previous inventory
17 new subsidies have been identified and added in the current inventory:
✓
Cap electricity prices in 2023
✓
One-off €636 payment to households heating with coal
✓
MyHEAT programme
✓
Shielding additive
✓
Carbon additive
✓
Electrical additive
✓
Heat with compensation
✓
Additive for fuels other than coal
✓
Supplement for sensitive entities
✓
Individual Aid for Baltica 2 and Baltica 3 Offshore Wind Farms
✓
VAT refund for gas for households with the lowest incomes
✓
Development of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and hydrogen refuelling
stations
✓
Individual Aid for the Baltic Power Offshore Windfarm
✓
Mechanism of the average production price with compensation
✓
Maximum heat supply price mechanism
✓
Frozen gas prices
✓
Additional savings - part of the Government Solidarity Shield
13 subsidies were introduced/announced due to the energy price increase in 2022 and 2023, and
have been included in the database:
✓
Cap electricity prices in 2023
✓
One-off €636 payment to households heating with coal
✓
Shielding additive
✓
Carbon additive
✓
Electrical additive
✓
Heat with compensation
✓
Additive for fuels other than coal
✓
Supplement for sensitive entities
✓
VAT refund for gas for households with the lowest incomes
✓
Mechanism of the average production price with compensation
✓
Maximum heat supply price mechanism
✓
Frozen gas prices
✓
Additional savings - part of the Government Solidarity Shield
Anti-Inflation Shield 1.0 and 2.0 have been regrouped in two subsidies because it was impossible
to find estimate for each individual measure.
General observations
Many data are missing due to lack of transparency and reports which are not published:
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
• The Ministry of Finance publishes a
report on tax preferences (Preferencje podatkowe w
Polsce). However, the last report dates from 2018.
• The
National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFOŚiGW)
publishes an annual activity report indicating the payments of the fund. The NFOŚiGW
supports energy efficiency measures and promotes the deployment of renewable
energies. The last report dates
from 2021.
• The
Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) publishes an annual report
on state aid to enterprises. The report provides information on subsidies in the energy
sector to support energy production and infrastructure restructuring. The last report dates
from 2021.
The above-mentioned reports are transparent, however regarding fossil fuel subsidies, especially
coal, data is more difficult to access. The Ministry of State Assets provides information on the
programme for the hard coal mining sector in Poland, (PROGRAM dla sektora górnictwa węgla
kamiennego w Polsce) which is updated at irregular intervals. However, the presentation of the
data is quite untransparent and some data seem to overlap with the UOKiK report.
To support renewable energies a green certificate mechanism is in place since 2007. Since mid-
2016, the measure is being gradually replaced by an auction-based contract-for-difference scheme.
Observation about FFS
Poland provides a high number of subsidies to the coal sector that stay relatively stable over the
years. Subsidies in the coal sector also include state aid for coal decommissioning as well as
financial support for people that lost work because of the infrastructure restructuring.
Unfortunately, there are no amounts available on excise duty on coal products even though this
subsidy is mentioned in the annual report of tax preferences, the most recent publication of which
is from 2018.
Investments aid for the coal mining sector has been further amended and extended until 2023.
The support of this programme in 2020 was €430 million (PLN 2 billion).
Further
Grants and other non-repayable benefits to the coal sector at a level of €330 million
(PLN 1.5 billion) were provided in 2020.
As for oil demand
Refund of excise duty included in the price of diesel used for agricultural
production represents the highest expenditure in 2020, €260 million (PLN 1.2 billion).
The subsidy “Investment Aid for Coal Mining Sector 2015-2018” was extended to 2015-2023
(https://ec.europa.eu/competition/elojade/isef/case_details.cfm?proc_code=3_SA_52832)
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
The Polish Government prepared a programme to relief vulnerable households from the energy
price surge. For households at least EUR 320 million (PLN 1.5 billion) are budgeted for 2022.
VAT exemption for natural gas (from 23% to 0%) from 1st of February to 31st of July 2022. Tax
reduction during the same time for petrol and diesel (from 23% to 8%), for heating (23% to 5%) and
for electricity (23% to 5%). The government has budgeted EUR 5.4 billion (PLN 25 billion) for its ant-
inflation shield that also includes tax reduction on fuels and fertilizers.
Furthermore, coal mining companies have received state aid from the Polish Development Fund
(PFR) to remain liquid under the Anti-Crisis shield. JSW received a preferential and a liquidity loan
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
of EUR 250 million (PLN 1.1 billion). PGG received a preferential and a liquidity loan of EUR 375
million (PLN 1.75 billion).
Moreover, Poland has introduced a recovery and resilience plan. The plan includes subsides of
more than €3.7 billion for offshore wind energy projects, €3.5 billion for energy-efficient renovation
in buildings, €800 million for the development of green hydrogen technologies and €7.5 billion for
green and smart mobility.
In 2023, Poland introduced three shields:
- Government Anti-Inflation Shield (Not related to energy subsidies)
- Government Energy Shield:
o Limiting the increase in heat prices to a maximum of 40%
o Frozen gas prices
o
VAT refund for gas for households with the lowest incomes o Households could benefit from:
▪ shielding additive
▪ an allowance for other heat sources
▪ carbon supplement
▪ electrical additive
o Sensitive Actors could benefit from
▪ an allowance for other heat sources
▪ the mechanism of the average production price with compensation.
- Government Solidarity Shield:
o Cap electricity prices for enterprises, local governments and sensitive entities
o Additional savings (incentive to reduce energy consumption)
Portugal
Situation vs previous inventory
Several new or unreported subsidies compared to the previous inventory have been included in
the database. It concerns the following subsidies:
✓
Several programs have been added under the investment “Energy Efficiency in Energy
Efficiency in Residential Buildings “. Between them,
Vale Efficiency Program provides
vouchers for vulnerable families. The
Support Program for Residential Condominiums;
Energy Efficiency in Central Public Administration Buildings; Renovation and
Increase of the Energy Performance of Service Buildings, they all target the
improvement of the energy and environmental performance of buildings. Total estimated
budget for all the measures: €264 million.
✓
Support to renewable electricity production can be found under two subsidies:
Support
for the implementation of Renewable Energy Communities and Collective Self-
Consumption and
Support to produce renewable hydrogen and other renewable
gases. Total estimated amount: €214 million.
✓
Decarbonisation of Industry aims to leverage the decarbonisation of the industrial and
business sector by promoting the transition to a carbon-neutral economy (energy
efficiency and demonstration projects, solar and geothermal energy projects or intelligent
energy systems and their storage, among others). Total estimated amount: €10 million-first
call; €705 million for the period 2022-2025.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
8 new measures created to address the energy price rising:
✓
Program to Support Intensive Gas Industries: allocated budget of €235million.
✓
4 subsidies directed to support road transport, targeting different beneficiaries. The
AUTOvoucher discount program: transport fuel subsidy with a total allocation amount of
€133 million. The Extraordinary support for colored and marked diesel, applicable to
colored and marked gas oil, with applications in the primary sector and an allocated budget
of €65 million. The
Partial reimbursement for commercial diesel fuel, to collective
passenger transport and vehicular gas or a partial refund of fuel taxes for freight
transport companies, presents an amount of €25 million. Finally, under the program
Famílias Primeiro, a Fuel tax reduction is established. The total sum of this measures
reaches €1508million.
✓
Gas price cap, under the
program Famílias Primeiro, Transitional regime for the
stabilization of gas prices by legal persons with consumption equal or lower than 10 000
m3 join: SME and households are eligible to join the regulated tariff regime for the sale of
natural gas. Total budget allocation: €680 million (preliminary as it has not been included
yet on the 2023 state budget).
✓
Transitional regime for the stabilization of gas prices by legal persons with
consumption exceeding 10 000 m3, discount on the price of natural gas, equivalent to
the difference between the price of the energy component, contained in the invoice, and
its reference value for 2023. The total budget allocation will reach €1 000 million over all
the period.
✓
2 subsidies are created to support electricity consumption. The
Mechanism for adjusting
the costs of electricity production within the framework of the Iberian Electricity
Market and under the program
Famílias Primeiro - VAT on electricity at 6%. Both
measures sum up a total budget of €1950 million.
3 subsidies have been classified under Out of scope:
✘
Energy Efficiency Fund – Call nº 10 has been removed as this call number was already
mentioned on the list.
✘
Excise tax exemption on petroleum products consumed in inland water navigation
and
Excise tax exemption on kerosene consumed in domestic air traffic. They both
are outside of the scope of this study.
General observations
Several subsidies that take part of the Energy Efficiency Fund are marked as ongoing. Although the
projects allocation has been already presented, funds are in process of allocation. Once it will be
completed, this fund can be considered as terminated. Currently, the
Fundo Ambiental leads the
energy efficiency measures that Portugal is bringing into place.
The Second Phase of the Program
More Sustainable Buildings has perceived an huge amount
(total budget allocated of €190 million) in comparison with its First Phase (total budget allocated of
€9.5 million).
In 2021 and 2022,
Feed-in Tariff were dramatically reduced due to the occurrence of negative
price on electricity market, just excluding the feed-in tariff for solar PV energy.
After two years with no allocated money, in 2022, €2 million have been allocated to the
Regulated
last resort tariffs for natural gas.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
The 2022
fuel tax exemption for goods consumed by international agents and the electricity and
cogeneration through out coal and fuel oil
The government proceeded in 2021 with tendering the attribution of the Pego injection point in
the Public Service Electricity Network (RESP) previously used by the power plant, given the current
utilisation of the existing capacity of the network and limited ability to connect new renewable
energy plants.
For 2021, data for the whole year has been found, changing it from the initial estimated calculation.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price.
ESTATÉGIA DE COMUNICAÇÃO ECONOMIA | TURISMO | MAR (portugal.gov.pt)
On this report, the Portuguese government presents the applied strategy to address rising energy
price by providing extraordinary measures in a context of an extremely high inflation that can be
reflected over the natural gas and electricity prices.
One of the measures is the Iberian Mechanism. It makes possible to set a reference price for the
natural gas consumed to generate electricity. The final price obtain by the Iberian Electricity Market
(MIBEL) is significantly lower price. Since June 2022, a total budget of €1860 million has been
allocated to this subsidy. The program
Famílias Primeiro - VAT on electricity at 6% is a measure
which will be beneficial for 5 million consumers, corresponding to more than 85% of customers.
Additionally, 1.3 million consumers corresponding to more than 86% of the customer base,
including domestic customers and small businesses with annual consumption of less than 10
thousand m3, will be eligible to join the regulated tariff regime for the sale of natural gas. This
subsidy has a total budget allocation of €1680 million. Gas subsidies are also created to support
the intensive gas industries, with a total sum of €235 million.
Another intensive axe of support has been road transport, targeting different beneficiaries. The
AUTOvoucher discount programme is a transport fuel subsidy with a total allocation amount of
€133 million, directed to all the gasoline and diesel consumers. The Extraordinary support for
coloured and marked diesel is applicable to coloured and marked gas oil consumers of the primary
sector and has an allocated budget of €65 million. The Partial reimbursement for commercial diesel
fuel, to collective passenger transport and vehicular gas or a partial refund of fuel taxes for freight
transport companies, presents an amount of €25 million (date to check, missing data). Finally,
under the programme Famílias Primeiro, a Fuel tax reduction is established. The total sum of this
measures reaches €1508 million.
Finally, €100 million subsidies have as beneficiaries the agriculture sector, supporting farmers by
reducing ISP to a minimum rate or by VAT and carbon tax value compensation.
Summing all the extraordinary support measures to contain the prices of fuel, electricity, and gas
and to protect families and companies from the effect of an exogenous crisis in the energy
markets, the government has spent over the period 2022-2023: €1950 million in electricity support
subsidies; €1915 million in natural gas support measures; €1731 million in fuel oil support aids.
Romania
Situation vs previous inventory
Nine new subsidies have been identified and added to the current inventory:
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
State aid scheme aimed at supporting the development of gas-fired capacities for the
production of electricity and heat in HE CHP in district heating
✓
Scheme to support capacity for renewable hydrogen production
✓
State aid: scheme to support companies in the context of Russia's war against Ukraine
✓
One-year ceiling on electricity prices
✓
One-year ceiling on natural gas prices
✓
Extension of the price ceiling on electricity prices
✓
Extension of the price ceiling on natural gas prices
✓
Scheme to support companies in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine
✓
Supporting companies in sectors and sub-sectors exposed to a significant risk of relocation
✓
State aid aid scheme to provide partial compensation to large energy-consuming
enterprises faced with an increase in electricity prices.
1 subsidies have been removed:
✘ Compensation measures for electricity and gas bills for households and
consumers/smaller businesse (due to double count)
Some noticeable elements/ variations were noted:
Within its “Recovery and resilience plan”, Romania introduced a new fund to boost the
development of RES in 2022.
The Regional Operational Programme (2014-2020) subsidies for Public buildings as well as for
Public lightening data from 2017 and before were “Not available” as the data has not been
published by the Government either because: no money has been distributed before 2018-2019
for these categories, or the amount were too low.
The “Excise tax exemption on natural gas consumed by households” data are not available for 2022
as the calculation takes into account data from Eurostat (which has only published the 2021 data
and the 2022 data are not yet available).
The amount of subsidies for the “Clean Vehicles” Programmes considerably dropped in 2021,
reaching €15 million (RON 75 million) to improve air quality, and €300,000 (around RON 1.5
million).
The “Allowance for the heating of dwellings in the cold season - heating with firewood, coal and
mineral oil fuel” exploded in 2021.
General observations
No centralised information or report on subsidies found.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
In 2021 Romania initiated the launch of various measures to address rising energy prices,
including:
✓
A law to shield consumers from high energy prices (launched in November 2021) with
subsidies for home-heating assistance, energy consumption, energy efficient house
equipment and products bought to improve energy performance in buildings or
connection to the energy network.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
A compensation measure for both gas and electricity bills between €2.6-2.8 billion
(RON 13-14 billion) handed-out in between November 2021 and March 2022. The measure
concerned around 85% of the population.
✓
A tax on producers (with revenues exceeding €91/MWh) to finance the compensation
measure for both gas and electricity bills (here-before).
In 2022, new measures were announced:
✓
A protection scheme for households (with consumption of up to 300 kWh/month),
including a VAT reduction to 5%, and a compensation for the green certificate and the
cogeneration bonus for consumption.
✓
A 1-year ceiling price on electricity, households who consume <100 kW/month will pay
€14 cents/kW, and if they consume >300 kW/month they will be charged a maximum of
€16 cents/kW.
✓
A 1-year ceiling price on gas, for domestic consumers (fixed with a maximum price of €6
cents/kW), and for industrial consumers (maximum fixed at €7 cents/kW)
✓
The 1-year ceiling price on gas and electricity was extended to August 2023. With
small adjustments.
Spain
Situation vs previous inventory
12 subsidies, which were not included in the previous listing have been added to the database,
two of them identify as aids created to mitigate energy price rising:
✓
1 new subsidy part of the “
Recovery, transformation and resilience plan” for 2021-2023,
for the development and deployment of renewable hydrogen roadmap and its sectoral
integration. The allocated amount is €1.55bn.
✓
2 new subsidies promoting the improvement of the energy efficiency and sustainability of
buildings energy demand:
State plan to promote building renovation 2018-2021 and
2022-2025. Their total budget allocation is €4.322bn.
✓
A program to subsize singular projects for less than 20,000 inhabitants-local entities
promoting the transition to a low-carbon economy. It takes part of the FEDER Operational
Program for Sustainable Growth 2014-2020:
Singular projects of local entities favoring
the transition to a low-carbon economy. The identified value of this subsidy is €978m.
✓
The regulated gas heating tariffs - Tariff of Last Resort (TUR) for community boilers
is a tariff available to any consumer connected to the natural gas networks with a
consumption of less than 50MWh.
An allocation of €3bn in the will support the application of
the new neighborhood savings TUR and the rest of the TURs, extended until the end of 2023.
✓
Two new measures created to address the energy price rising. A temporary reduction of
access tolls on the electricity transmission and distribution networks for electro-intensive
consumers:
The Reduction in the tolls paid by the electricity-intensive industry for
the use of electricity transmission
and distribution networks, with an allocated budget
of €225m. Secondly, the
direct fuel discount for all consumers. This measure has been
recently prolonged only for professional road transport sector.
The total final allocated
budget is €6.027bn.
✓
One subsidy takes part of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) -
Lines of Aid
for Investment in renewable, thermal and electrical energy, to promote renewable
energy facilities for the production of energy, both thermal and electrical, throughout
Spain. The total allocated budget for this call amounts to €316m.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Three subsidies allocated inside the
IPCEI Hydrogen Program - Production of renewable
hydrogen. The selected projects have been
Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios, S.A.
(‘COBRA'); Green hydrogen production centre in the Palos de la Frontera chemical
industrial hub; Sener, H2B2, Wind turbine specialist Nordex and Truck maker Iveco,
all of them mainly performing on the technological development and manufacturing of
new generation electrolysis. The total budget designated to these projects is €744m.
✓
Program PIMA FRÍO: a direct grant for the replacement of refrigeration installations with
installations based on the use of low-GWP gases. €1.5m budget has been allocated to this
subsidy.
13 subsidies has been removed:
✘
PAREER II (launched in 2018), the program is the continuity of the PAREER-CRECE (to
improve energy efficiency in buildings). This Program has been listed as out of scope
because it is already included under the FNEE fund budget allocation. Only PAREER-CRECE
is not under the FNEE budget as it was released previously.
✘
PREE, together with the PAREER II are the continuity of the PAREER-CRECE (to improve
energy efficiency in buildings). This Program has been listed as out of scope because it is
already included under the FNEE fund budget allocation.
✘
PNIEC – 2021-2030, which defines the objectives of reducing GHG emissions, RES
development and energy efficiency. It has been included under out of scope as it is already
under Recovery, transformation, and resilience Plan.
✘ Seven subsidies
Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan - PERTE de energías
renovables, hidrógeno renovable y almacenamiento projects
. They have been initially
included, and classified under out of scope afterwards, as they are part of the Recovery,
transformation and resilience Plan subsidy that targets the development and deployment
of renewable hydrogen roadmap and its sectoral integration.
✘ The measure to support for gas intensive-consuming companies and definition of a
reduction percentage on the electricity consumption tariffs, “
Mitigation of the impact of
soaring natural gas prices on the gas market” has been classified as out of scope as it
is equal to the already listed subsidy to
“Mitigate the impact of rising natural gas prices
on the retail gas markets”.
✘
FEDER Operational Programme for Sustainable Growth 2014-2020; Aid programme
for energy efficiency actions in SMEs and large companies in the industrial sector.
This subsidy has been initially added and classified under out of scope afterwards as it is
already included under the FNEE fund budget allocation.
✘
Plan for alternative development of coal mining districts --> Grant of aid to mine
workers & Environmental restoration of areas affected by the energy transition.
These two measures have been listed under out of scope as they are not directly targeting
energy products.
Some
noticeable variations were noted since the last inventory:
All the aids included under the Plan for alternative development of coal mining districts are
constantly decreasing since 2020. There are some specific measures that are worth to mention:
• The data for Reactivation of coal mining districts and Infrastructure in coal mining: these
two subsidies seem to be stopped as no data has been found for them since 2020.
• In particular, the Aid to HUNOSA has decreased a 99.93% between 2020-2021. In addition,
the environmental incentive for coal-fired power plants is significantly in a downsizing
trend since 2020.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Capacity payment for coal also seem to be cut since 2021, as no figures appear anymore on the
PGE. All these reductions could be explained by the energy decarbonizing path that Spain is
carrying out.
The Special taxes on hydrocarbons show different tendencies regarding the targeting product:
• Exemptions for kerosene (191.26%), refunds for transport (22.65%) and refunds for
agriculture (11.79%) have increased over the period 2022-2023.
• Exemptions for gasoil in certain motors (11.82%), reduced natural gas for electricity
production (64.75%), reduced biogas for electricity production (91.21%) and biogas for
stationary motors (81.25%) have experienced important reductions over 2022-2023.
• Special tax hydrocarbon - exemption biocarburator: In the annual 2021 national budget,
the following statement is mentioned: "the estimated of the tax benefits from the biofuels
exemption is of negligible magnitude" and in consequence, it is not reported.
• Special tax - Coal (tax exemption): "RD 738/2015, as well as, where applicable, the special
tax on coal that may be applicable in accordance with Law 38/1992, of 28 December. In
accordance with the above, the breakdown of these items is not detailed". There is no
budget allocation since 2018. Spain is subsidising coal mine closure since 2019, and this
was agreed in 2018, so subsidies to coal stopped in 2018.
• The Capacity payment to coal has also been brough to zero as, In Spain's National Energy
and Climate Integrated Plan (PNIEC) submitted to the European Commission in March
2020, Spain committed to phase out coal by 2030. The PNIEC mentions that by the time the
report was submitted only the most recent gas-fired combined cycle plants and a couple
of hydraulic power stations receive capacity payments.
Related to these tax reductions, and created to address energy price rising, since April 2022 a direct
fuel discount has been applied to all consumers (maximum discount on fuel set at 0.2 €/liter) that
has been recently extended only to the professional road transport sector.
The program PAREER-CRECE (Aid Program for Energy Rehabilitation in Buildings in the Household
and Hotel Sectors) was initially applied up to December 2016. Notwithstanding the above,
regarding that there was remaining budget at the end of the period, it was extended until
December 2020. Data found for project allocation in 2019 and 2020, for the total amount of
€11,48m.
The following programs that take over this allowance (PAREER-II Program, PREE) are already
included inside the FNEE fund budget allocation, reason why they have listed Out of scope.
The social bonus for electricity and heat have increased over the last period, specially in order to
support a larger number of households (1,5M households will be beneficiaries of the recently
released "Bono de justicia energetica" that will be beneficiaries of this subsidy over a high inflation
period (2021-2023). For 2021-2023 - No data found about the budget allocation. However, we have
estimated the amount by knowing the number of households that will be beneficiaries of this
measure (data provided on the sheet Sources Subsidies) and comparing it with the previous years'
numbers of households and their allocated subsidy. To be checked, on the following update, if the
amount is mentioned on the state budget.
Influence on energy price rising mitigation on the new inventory:
• Measures to mitigate the impact of rising natural gas prices on the retail gas markets and
electricity markets. Them both are a compendium of measures supporting gas intensive-
consuming companies and consumers. The total allocated budget already reaches €4.5
billion, that potentially will be extended in 2023 by a €3 billion additional package.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
General observations
No centralized information or report on subsidies found. Lots of sources where to find information,
which makes it really complicated and difficult to assess.
Spain has not released its "Accounts of Public Administration" with 2020 data in the same manner
as the previous and posterior years. It is the reason why it is not possible to find the special tax for
hydrocarbons following the procedure of other years.
It seems that the decarbonization policy is being in place since 2020, when allocated budget
targeting coal subsidies have been drastically reduced.
In addition, the total subsidies (measures and figures) finally listed for 2021, double the reported
amount of the previous year research.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Through the direct fuel discount for all consumers, the government has applied a maximum
discount of 0.2 €/liter for all consumers during a six-month period in 2022. This measure is now
extended for certain beneficiaries.
The reduction in the tolls paid by the electricity-intensive industry for the use of electricity
transmission and distribution networks is a temporary measure that will benefit electro-intensive
consumers over 2022. Additionally, the regulated gas heating tariffs will help any consumer
connected to the natural gas networks (less than 50MWh/year).
Measures to mitigate the impact of rising natural gas prices on the retail gas markets cuts the price
of the natural gas tariff up to a defined ceiling and reduce the Value Added Tax rate applicable to
all natural gas deliveries. It continues the prohibition of cutting off basic supplies for vulnerable
consumers.
Finally, measures to mitigate the impact of rising natural gas prices on the electricity markets are
formed by a combined package of measures reducing the taxable base of electricity production
and certain electricity supplies or charges, fees and tools of the electricity system in certain
contracts and remuneration regimes.
The social bonus subsidy has continued increasing in 2022, targeting a larger number of vulnerable
consumers (households with low-income revenues).
Slovakia
Situation vs previous inventory
Twelve new subsidies have been added, of which nine address energy rising prices :
✓
Construction of an LNG terminal in the public port of Bratislava - pre-project preparation
(€335 100 in 2019)
✓
Individual tariff rate for operating the system (€67.5 million in 2021, €0 in 2022)
✓
Individual tariff rate for system services (€184 million in 2021, €0 in 2022)
✓
Support for mitigation and liquidation of the consequences of mining in coal mining -
closure of mining fields (€12 million in 2022)
✓
Support for technical works to mining (€1 million in 2022)
Energy rising prices measures:
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
✓
Capping of electricity and gas prices for companies (€600 million over 2022-2023)
✓
Electricity and gas price capping for municipalities (€73 million over 2023-2024)
✓
TPS subsidy to support industrial consumers (€80 million over 2022-2023)
✓
Reduction of electricity distribution fee for the unregulated market (€97 million in 2021)
✓
Heat price cap for households (€395 million in 2023)
✓
Gas price cap for households (estimated to €1.66 billion in 2023)
✓
Flat electricity prices for households (distribution and system charges) (€379 million over
2022-2023)
Deletion of measure classified
• Special allowance for miner (€900 000 in 2021)
• Cap on the nuclear levy has been deleted because lack of data (ended in 2018). There was
a confusion with this measure and the measure “Partial financing of decommissioning of
two already shut down nuclear plants”. The latest was classified out of scope and have
been updated and reintegrated this year to the list of measure in the scope.
General observations
Responsibilities for the administration of the
renewables and CHP FiTs scheme have been shifted
to a different entity since 01.01.2020 (from URSO to OKTE). Data are therefore provided under
another desegregation level with a more detailed representation by energy type from 2019 on;
historical data are however not provided under this format.
Regarding exemption from excise duty on electricity, natural gas and coal, a methodological
change has been introduced to improve data consistency: all historical data (2015-2021) are now
based on national statistics from Financial Administration of Slovak Republic (FS SR).
Transparency and continuity in reported data has been degraded, especially due to some
administrative changes (see paragraph above).
All remaining budget of the “operational programme Quality of Environment, Priority Axis 4: Energy
Efficient Low-carbon Economy” is affected to 2020, last year of the program. Consequently, an
increase of €77 million is observed between 2019 (€49 million) and 2020 (€126 million) for this
measure.
System operation tariff have not been updated for 2022 because of data not yet published (total
amount of operation tariff support was of €262 million in 2021).
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Since 2022, the government has implemented several measures to shield households and firms
from the energy crisis, like capping energy prices, as detailed above in the part “Situation vs
previous inventory”.
Some of these measures, like a one-off aid to low-income groups, have been classified as “out of
scope” because they do not focus explicitly on energy prices inflation even if they are linked with
it.
Total amount of identified measures to face energy crisis are €530 million in 2022 and €2.6 billion
in 2023 (Government has budgeted €3.5 billion of additional measure to address rising energy
prices for year 2023).
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Slovenia
Situation vs previous inventory
The update of the inventory is composed of 41 measures of which ten are new:
✓
Compensation for indirect ETS costs in Slovenia for 2022-2024 (€99 million between 2022
and 2024)
✓
Nine measures to address rising energy prices accounting for €365 million in 2022, €1,33
billion in 2023. These measures are detailed below, in the part “Policies implemented to
address rising energy price”.
Deletion of measure classified as “out of scope”:
✘ Grant for purchase of environmentally friendly vehicles (households) (€3.4 million in 2021)
✘ Grant for purchase of environmentally friendly vehicles (business) (€4.5 million in 2021)
✘ Grant for other measures for efficient mobility (municipalities) (€0.3 million in 2021)
General observations
Refund of excise tax for commercial transport has been divided by three in 2022 compared to
2021, passing from €33 million to €11 million. Both the number and the amount of excise duty
refunds for commercial goods decreased.
As of May 2023, feed-in tariffs support amounts for 2022 are still missing, but high reference
market prices should result in a significant decrease of levels of support for renewable power
plants.
Even though Eco Fund measures and Feed-in tariff supports amounts are still missing for 2022,
total public expenditures have more than doubled (€700 million in 2022, €301 million in 2021) and
are very likely to continue to skyrocket in 2023 as already €1.4 billion of public support have been
identified.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
Since the beginning of 2022, the Slovene government introduced several measures to combat the
energy price crisis
13 measures in the inventory concern the rise of energy prices and amount to €605 million in 2022
and already €1.3 billion public spending are planned for 2023.
List of the measures with the detailed budget:
• Exceptional aid to energy-intensive companies due to the rise of energy prices (€70 million
in 2022)
• Solidarity allowance to alleviate the consequences of energy poverty (€106 million in 2022)
• Temporary exemption from paying the RES & CHP for households and some other low-
voltage-network connected consumers (€18 million in 2022)
• Reduction of the electrical energy network tariff rates (€63 million in 2022)
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
• Energy allowance to the weakest categories of disabled people (€35 million between 2022
and 2023)
• Aid for small, medium-sized, and large enterprises (€86 million in 2022)
• Act Governing Aid to Businesses (€850 million in 2023)
• VAT reduction for electricity, natural gas, district heating and firewood (€40 million in 2022
and €90 million in 2023)
• Temporary excise duty reduction on gasoil, gas and electricity for households and
businesses (€18 million in 2022)
• Temporary excise duty reduction on petrol and diesel oil (€36 million in 2022)
• Temporary capping of petrol and diesel oil prices (€150 million in 2022)
• Electricity and natural gas prices cap for households, protected consumers, and small and
medium enterprises (€350 million in 2023)
Sweden
Situation vs previous inventory
Three new subsidies have been identified and added to the current inventory:
✓
Support for energy efficiency in single-family dwellings (€33.8 million/SEK 380 million in
2023)
✓
Expanded charging infrastructure and workplace charging stations (€48.0 million/SEK 540
million in 2023)
✓
Support for biogas upgraded to biomethane (€57.1 million/SEK 650 million in 2023)
Two subsidies introduced/announced due to the energy price increase have been included in the
database:
✓
Targeted electricity subsidy for electricity-intensive businesses (€213 million/SEK 2.4 billion
in 2023)
✓
Temporary tax cut on diesel in agriculture, forestry and aquaculture (€30.7 million/SEK 350
million in 2022)
General observation
Tax reductions for fuel used in installations covered by EU ETS: the national tax expenditure
report does not include this tax expenditures, while DG COMP provides a State Aid (SA.36295),
amounting to SEK 1.4 billion (~€140 million) in 2020. The amount has fallen sharply, which can be
explained at least in part by the drop in energy demand in 2020 due to the pandemic.
The certificate price of the
Electricity Certificate System decreased sharply from 1.8 öre/kWh
(2020) to 0,2 öre/kWh (2022).1 The price decrease is explained with the supply of electricity
certificates being higher than the demand from the set quotas. Hence, the electricity producers
received lower payments for the renewable electricity produced in 2022 than in 2020. This affected
renewable energies from
hydro, wind onshore, liquid biofuels, peat and solar. In total
renewable energy operators received 95% less from the certificate system in 2022 compared to
2020. The value for renewable energy support through certificates in 2022 was €3 million (SEK 32
million), compared with €55 million in 2020 (SEK 620 million).
1https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/forordning-20111480-
om-elcertifikat_sfs-2011-1480, https://cesar.energimyndigheten.se/WebPartPages/AveragePricePage.aspx
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Grants from the
Climate Leap programme (Klimatklivet) for
biogas increased from € 76 million
(SEK 869 million) in 2021 to € 155 million (SEK 1.8 billion) in 2022 and from € 3.2 million (SEK 36
million) in 2021 to € 36 million (SEK 412 million) for
energy efficiency. After a record-high year,
grants for
Filling stations with alternative fuels decreased from € 66 million (SEK 757 million) in
2021 to € 30.4 million (SEK 346 million) in 2022.
The value of
Energy tax exemption for biofuels outside the reduction obligation (formerly
Energy tax exemption for CO2-neutral fuels)
decreased sharply from €720 million (SEK 7.6 billion)
in 2018 to €148 million (SEK 1.7 billion) in 2022. With the introduction of the reduction obligation
in 2018, it was changed that the tax exemption only applies to fuels with a biofuel content of at
least 98%. As a result, a significantly lower proportion of fuels with biofuel content in the mix will
benefit from the energy tax exemption.
Amounts for
Biogas production used as biofuels have been modified from 2018 to 2022, because
values from the official document are given in tkr, which means thousand of SEK.
Observation about FFS
Sweden has eliminated several fossil fuel subsidies and is expected to eliminate more in the near
future.
The
CO2 Tax Reduction for Energy Intensive Companies has been phased out in 2015 (€750
million/SEK 7.8 billion in 2014). The same holds for
Reduced CO2 Tax Rate for Natural Gas and
LPG Used as a propellant (€29 million/ SEK 300 million in 2014).
Furthermore, Sweden phased out
CO2 tax reductions on heating fuels in industry outside the
EU ETS and
CO2 tax reduction on heating in the agriculture sector both in 2017. In 2019,
Sweden ended three other subsidies on
CO2 tax reductions on diesel fuel in mining industry
activities, Energy tax reduction on fuels in CHP and
Energy tax reduction for diesel in mining
industry. In 2017 these measures cost together €86 million (SEK 940 million).
In 2022 Sweden phased out subsidies on
Energy tax reduction on heating fuel in the
agricultural sector,
Reduced energy tax on heating fuels in industry and
Energy tax
reduction for industrial district heating supply, amounting together €44 million (SEK 490
million) in 2020.
Policies implemented to address rising energy price
The government presented a couple of measures to respond to the recent rise in energy prices.
The
Support to relieve vulnerable households from electricity price rise (€660 million/ SEK 6.9
billion) grants €195 per months, for households that consume more than 2000 kWh per months.
This measure will be provided from December to February. In March, households whose electricity
consumption is from 400 kWh to 2000 kWh benefit from payments between €10 and €100 (SEK
100 to SEK 1000).
The government introduced a
Temporary tax reduction for diesel and petrol from 1st June 2022
to 31st October 2022 to the minimum tax level permitted under EU regulation. This will cost
approximately €360 million (SEK 3.7 billion).
Car owners receive a
Compensatory payment of approximately €100 (SEK 1000). People living in
remote areas will receive an additional compensatory payment of €50 (SEK 500). This measure is
estimated at €380 million (SEK 4 billion).
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Furthermore, the government provides an
Additional fund to purchase electric vehicles of €375
million (SEK 3.9 billion).
Families with children benefit from
an Increase in housing allowance of €125 (SEK 1325) per child
and month. The total cost is estimated at €48 million (SEK 500 million).
Values for the general compensation for households as well as a targeted support measure for
energy intensive industries to adress rising energy prices are included.
There are more or seemingly overlapping support, e.g. a high-cost protection (högkostnadsskydd)
financed by congestion charges to the Swedish transmission operator Svenska Kraftnät of several
billions SEK provided to Swedish households (don’t have an exact figure at this point but it is
substantial, upwards of 55+ billions SEK).
Support has been rolled out in two phases:
• Electricity support for households in middle and southern Sweden for the period 1 October
2021-30 september 2022. Affected 4,5 million households. In March 2023, 98% of
households had received their support.
• Electricity support for all households in Sweden for the period November-December 2022
affects 5 million households. Payments commence in May 2023, and should be completed
by 9 June 2023. Preliminary figures say this will cost around 10 billion SEK.
There may be other types of support measures targeting households and which are tied to rising
electricity prices. We cannot within the allotted time provide a more complete picture of this, as
not all data is readily or easily available, and it’s not always clear if they are actually addressing
rising electricity costs. It likely requires ministry or agency contacts to gather all relevant
information, and that takes time.
Study on energy subsidies – 2023 edition – Annex 2
Document Outline
