24.05.2024
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
The Federal Ministry of Finance has presented a draft bill to modernize and reduce bureaucracy in electricity and energy law. It has been met with both pros and cons in the industry.
The draft bill to modernize and reduce bureaucracy in electricity and energy tax law from the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) dates from 12 April 2024. The associations are now invited to comment. The legislative process is due to be completed by the end of 2024 and the article law is due to come into force on January 1, 2025.
For the Association of Municipal Enterprises (VKU), Managing Director Ingbert Liebing said: "The government draft contains important improvements to the electricity tax for e-mobility and electricity storage." However, the VKU rejects plans to abolish previous, sensible tax exemptions without replacement. "They must be retained," demanded Liebing.
Retain important tax exemptions
For example, abolishing the tax exemption for electricity from sewage gas, landfill gas and biogas would lead to rising fees and charges. "That would be an additional burden for private households and companies," he criticized. Making this electricity production from demonstrably sustainable generation more expensive would be a step backwards for the energy transition. "Above all, this counteracts the climate protection targets for the waste and wastewater industry," feared Liebing.
The planned regulation on tax exemption for small systems should also be improved. In future, all plants of a municipal utility under 2 MW that are located at the same site are to be added together. However, there is no definition of what constitutes a site within the meaning of the law. "Energy supply companies need legal certainty when it comes to the question of whether the electricity from their plants is tax-exempt," warned the VKU boss.
In terms of competitiveness, it is right to reduce the electricity tax for manufacturing companies from 20.50 euros to 50 cents/MWh as of January 1, 2024. "However, tax relief for industry must not be financed retrospectively at the expense of municipal utilities and waste disposal companies and slow down the energy transition!" demanded Liebing.
Electricity storage association sees need for improvement
The German Association of Energy Storage Systems BVES has already drawn up a statement outlining the advantages and disadvantages. In it, it praises improvements such as a storage definition that is open to all technologies, simplifications in relation to the use of storage, the final consumer fiction at charging points, as well as clarifications for vehicle-to-home or vehicle-to-business applications. At the same time, he regrets the lack of an exemption from electricity tax for vehicle-to-grid applications as a missed opportunity to promote this grid serviceability.
The storage industry is also calling for clarifications for business models at charging points with battery storage. In the case of so-called multi-use, when the storage system also operates on the electricity or balancing power markets, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the status of the energy storage system.
In addition, the final consumer fiction should also apply to battery storage systems that are used for the charging station and also provide other services, such as participation in the balancing energy market, according to the BVES. "No competitive disadvantages must be created for charging stations with battery storage with multi-use operation compared to charging stations without multi-use", demands the storage association.
The Position of the BVES on the Electricity Tax Act is available for download as a PDF.
Author: Susanne Harmsen
Accessibility
Language
