Posted Sep 27, 2022, 10:18 PMUpdated on Sep 27, 2022 at 10:19 PM
The government does not intend to stop at renewables. Asked about France 5 on Tuesday, in the program “C à vous”, Gabriel Attal declared that he wanted to extend to other companies the compensation mechanism allowing the State to recover part of the profits made by the energies renewable.
For the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, it is necessary to “capture” the “undue rents” linked to “the inflation of electricity and gas prices on the market”. Bercy “is ready to extend this mechanism so that it potentially concerns other energy activities which today are not affected by this mechanism. And to cite, in particular, refining activities.
Taxing “superprofits”
Wholesale electricity prices have exploded since the war in Ukraine, going so far as to exceed 1,000 euros per megawatt hour, against 50 before the crisis. This has generated substantial profits for energy producers like TotalEnergies, or for shipping carriers like CMA-CGM. A debate has been launched to tax these “superprofits”, a flash mission currently studying how to do it.
The compensation mechanism should, according to him, bring in 20 billion euros next year, confirming a figure put forward by Bruno Le Maire two weeks ago and greatly exceeding the first estimates of the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE). ).
It makes it possible to finance the tariff shield on electricity and gas, set up to help households and businesses and which will be maintained and adjusted in 2023. But it only applies for the moment to producers of renewable energy. The companies concerned return money to the State when market prices are higher than the repurchase price guaranteed by the State.
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