Brussels, 08/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 9 April, the European Commission will unveil its new guidelines on state aid for energy and the environment to replace the 2008 guidelines. The revision process involved several weeks of consultation, but before they were published, the Commission had already been accused of caving in to pressure from industry and Germany.
This newsletter has seen the guidelines. They state that the partial exemptions for high electricity-using industry from the charges used to finance support programmes for renewable energy may be kept in place until January 2018. Eligible companies must have an electrical intensity of at least 25% or an exchange intensity of 4% at EU level. They will have” to be unveiled a year after the new guidelines come into force and subject to approval by the European Commission. A previous version of the guidelines from mid-March said nothing about any adjustment plans.
Frederic Thoma, energy policy adviser at Greenpeace told this newsletter that the exemptions are “shocking and disproportionate” and the bill for the extra charges they will generate will have to be footed by small consumers. His views are shared by those close to MEP Claude Turmes (Greens/EFA, Luxembourg), who are unhappy about the way EU rules can be adjusted to suit individual countries and industry needs because if industry does not pay its way, then consumers have to pick up the tab. They point out that Turmes had tried hard to get the Commission to see reason, but members of DG Competition at the European Commission may well listen to all opinions, but they pay more attention to some than to others.
On Tuesday 8 April, Germany introduced a law whereby the system of allowances for high-electrical using industries will remain in place, although for fewer companies. The law also states that, from 2017 onwards, the funding mechanism for renewable energy will be awarded through a bidding scheme to ensure renewable energy companies have to compete with one another. In a letter to the European Commission in mid-March, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom say that a universal approach for bidding schemes for renewable energy was not appropriate at this stage, and a number of exemptions have been added to the Commission guidelines to take account of the different stages of development of renewable energy technology. (EL and AN)