The European Commission has approved the state aid scheme that protects companies in Romania that use a lot of electricity, a scheme through which we ensure that energy-intensive industries do not leave Romania, declared, on Thursday, at the briefing at the end of the Government meeting, the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, according to Agerpres.
“Today we received good news from the European Commission. Basically, the state aid scheme that protects energy-intensive companies, companies in Romania that use a lot of electricity, has been approved, and allows them to request an exemption from paying green certificates in a percentage of 75% or 85%, depending on the field of activity of each company. It is a scheme that expires this year. It existed before and now we will have it until the end of 2031. It is worth a total of 578.8 million euros. Basically, through this scheme we ensure that energy-intensive industries do not leave Romania, they stay here, they continue to create jobs and development”, explained Burduja.
On Thursday, the European Commission approved, under EU rules on state aid, a Romanian scheme worth 578 million euros (2.9 billion lei), the purpose of which is to reduce the level of the electricity tax for large energy-consuming companies, the EU Executive informed in a statement.
In 2011, Romania introduced green certificates to promote electricity from renewable sources, under which eligible producers of electricity from renewable sources receive green certificates for each megawatt-hour produced and delivered to the grid. Electricity suppliers are required to purchase a mandatory quota of green certificates. Ultimately, the costs of green certificates are passed on to consumers through a tax.
The scheme aims to reduce the level of the tax for energy-intensive companies, thereby mitigating the risk that companies will relocate their activities to places outside the EU with less ambitious climate policies. The scheme will run until 31 December 2031 and has an estimated budget of EUR 578 million (RON 2.9 billion).
According to the cited source, the measure will benefit companies in the sectors listed in Annex 1 of the 2022 Guidelines on State aid for climate, environmental protection and energy (OACME). The sectors concerned rely to a considerable extent on electricity and are particularly exposed to international trade. Beneficiaries will benefit from a tax reduction of between 75% and 85%, depending on their risk exposure. The applicable reduction must not lead to a tax lower than 0.5 euro/MWh.
Under the scheme, beneficiaries will have to either implement certain recommendations made following the energy audit, or cover at least 30% of their electricity consumption from sources that do not produce carbon dioxide emissions, or invest at least 50% of the aid in projects leading to substantial reductions in the installation’s greenhouse gas emissions.