Germany will tax 2.4 cents per kilowatt of gas to curb its consumption

  • The new rate for households and companies will apply from October 1 and will amount to around 480 euros per household

The German Government will apply to gas a rate of 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour as of October 1 in order to discourage consumption in homes and businesses. The Trading Hub Europe (THE), the joint venture formed by gas operators in Germany, reported this Monday that the so-called “gas supply neutrality rate” adopted by the German government on August 9 will finally be 2.4 cents . The German Minister for Economy and Climate Protection, Robert Habeck, had anticipated that the amount of the new gas rate would be “between 1.5 and 5 cents per kilowatt hour”. The calculations of the gas company THE have finally set this rate at 2.4 cents.

According to estimates in the German press, the new tax of 2.4 cents will mean an additional cost of about 480 euros per year on the gas bill for a family of four in a single-family home. The German government plans compensatory aid for households with a lower income level. The new rate will come into force from October 1, 2022 and its application is expected to last for a limited period of time, initially established until September 30, 2024.

According to the Ministry of Economy, given the tense situation in the gas market resulting from the war in Ukrainethis measure is necessary to maintain the supply of gas during the coming winter, since without this mechanism to distribute the higher costs of gas among consumers, public services throughout the supply chain would be at risk.

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The beneficiaries of the new gas price mechanism will be the energy supply companies directly affected by the additional costs due to the substantial reduction in Russian gas imports.

Berlin had to come to the rescue of Uniper last July, the largest German importer of Russian gas and whose main shareholders is the Finnish Fortum, acquiring a 30% stake in the company in exchange for injecting more than 7,000 million euros.

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