Additional taxes imposed on energy companies from early 2013, which were due to expire at the end of this year, are maintained by the Government until the end of 2015, after the Tax Code was amended Wednesday to permit such an action, writes Mediafax. In this context, the Government has delayed by a year, until 2016, the introduction of a new system of royalties.

Taxes maintained are: a monopoly tax, in the range of 0.85 and 0.1 lei/MWh, for power and gas transmission and distribution companies, on each invoiced MWh transported or distributed; a 60% tax on additional revenues obtained by companies as a result of liberalization of gas prices; a 0,5% tax applied to income earned by companies that exploit natural resources, other than gas.

The government maintains the monopoly tax because funds are needed for cofinance projects on European funds, since there are activities where there are natural monopolies in the electricity and gas business, meaning distribution and transmission.

The government estimates that next year will cash 245.6 million lei from the tax on natural monopoly in the two sectors, 743.2 million lei from additional tax revenues obtained from gas price liberalization and 114.6 million lei, tax on income obtained from the exploitation of other natural resources.