National Council to recover profits from energy companies

Yesterday, the National Council decided major interventions in the revenues of oil and gas companies, as well as in the revenues of electricity producers. Relevant laws got the approval of the ÖVP, Greens and NEOS, as did the – voluntary – reduction in electricity consumption.

The EU’s Emergency Measures Act in October forms the framework for the proposed legislation. The measures were not enough for the SPÖ, the FPÖ identified anti-symptoms and marketing slander.

Earnings related to the tax crisis

With the energy crisis contributing to fossil fuels, oil and gas company profits linked to the crisis will be taxed in the second half of 2022 and 2023. The average profit for the years 2018 to 2021 is used as a comparison period. If the current profit is more than 20 percent above this average, then 40 percent will be taken from it.

However, to support investments in renewable energies and energy efficiency, a discount has been introduced that reduces the shareholding percentage to 33 percent. In principle, investments must be made between January 1 of this year and December 31 of the following year.

With electricity contributing to the energy crisis, revenues from electricity producers with an installed capacity of more than one megawatt are capped at €140 per MWh. This applies to the sale of domestically generated electricity from wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, waste, lignite and hard coal, petroleum products, peat fuels and biomass excluding biomethane. The revenue cap rises to 180 euros per MWh if investments in renewable energies can be claimed in 2022 and 2023.