Habeck reforms gas surcharge – “Those who can pay out bonuses don’t need help”

Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) only wants the income from the gas surcharge to go to companies that in return forego bonus payments and are systemically important for the German energy market. This was confirmed by a spokeswoman for the WELT ministry.

“We also handle it like this when it comes to state aid: those who receive state aid cannot distribute the money as bonuses. If you can pay out bonuses, you don't need any help," Habeck had previously told "Zeit".

Habeck is responding to massive criticism that the surcharge also benefits companies that are currently not at risk of insolvency or are even making particularly high profits due to the turmoil on the energy market.

Originally, all companies that have made losses due to the lack of Russian gas deliveries with higher costs for replacement procurement should benefit from the levy. Habeck had always justified this with the principle of equality.

In addition to Uniper and the former Gazprom Germany subsidiary Gazprom Germania (today: Securing Energy for Europe), which had found themselves in existential difficulties due to the lower Russian gas deliveries, groups such as RWE, Shell and the Austrian OMV would also have benefited from the gas levy. However, around 90 percent of the income from the levy should go to the two groups Uniper and Gazprom Germania.

Both companies have already signaled that, in addition to the levy from October, they already need additional billions in aid from the state. Uniper announced on Monday that the credit line at the state-owned KfW bank of over nine billion euros had already been exhausted and that the loans would have to be increased by billions. However, a decision on this has not yet been made.

With the change in the levy, Habeck now only wants to support companies that are essential for the security of supply in the state. “The surcharge aims to stabilize the security of supply. But of course it was always intended for companies that are systemically important. The free riders were not meant. That's why we want to readjust the levy at this point," announced the Economics Minister to "Zeit".

For the adjustments, both the Energy Security Act and the corresponding regulation for the introduction of the gas levy would probably have to be changed, said a spokeswoman for the WELT ministry.

That would mean that the amendment to the law would have to be approved by the Bundestag, which would mean that it would hardly be possible to reduce the number of beneficiary companies before the planned introduction on October 1st.

Habeck had come under massive pressure in the past few days – both from the opposition and from the coalition ranks. After he had defended the design of the surcharge for days, he admitted mistakes on Thursday last week and announced changes.

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