WEconomics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) announced on Thursday evening that he intends to review the gas levy decided by the federal government again. At the Entrepreneurs’ Day in Münster, Westphalia, Habeck said, according to “Welt”, that it was “certainly not morally right for companies that – let me put it in Low German – to earn a pig’s money, then also say: Yes, and for the few loss of income that we have, we ask the population for help, they should also give us money”. He therefore wants to re-examine the claim of the 12 gas companies that have so far applied for support from the gas levy. The group of authorized companies should be reduced as far as possible. “We’ll look at that again,” said Habeck.
At the same time, Habeck pointed out the legal hurdles of such a change during an appearance at the Westphalian Entrepreneurs’ Day in Münster: “If we start to cheat and it is prone to lawsuits – and there will definitely be lawsuits in one direction or the other – and the levy will be eliminated, then let’s fall back on the problem we have: that some of the companies and the citizens have a collapse in the gas supply.” He was “not in a good position,” said Habeck.
Finance Minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner was also open to improvements. “A measure of solidarity cannot serve to ensure that individual companies maintain their returns and make profits on them,” said the FDP leader on Thursday evening on the ZDF program “Maybrit Illner”. You have to take a close look at that – he doesn’t know the facts, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) knows that much better. “But if there is a need to change something to make this tool more targeted so that consumers benefit, then we are not afraid to make corrections.”
In recent days, politicians from both the government camp and the opposition have criticized the project. The SPD leader Saskia Esken, for example, told the “Rheinische Post” on Thursday that Habeck had to “ensure that services from the gas levy do justice to the overall economic situation of the corporations”. The surcharge is intended to fairly distribute the burden of the higher cost of gas procurement. “Corporations that earn more than good money in other sectors can and must help themselves,” warned Esken. She threatened to block the levy in the Bundestag if there were no improvements to the television station “Welt”.
The energy policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Michael Kruse, called for stricter requirements for companies that want to benefit from the levy. “It should only support companies that are in a market-threatening imbalance,” he told the “Rheinische Post” on Thursday. “Minister Habeck would be well advised to sharpen up at this point and adjust the basis for the levy.” The CDU wants to completely overturn the gas levy in the Bundestag.
The head of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, defended the gas surcharge. He told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” that “only a small part of the levy” goes to companies that don’t really need it. “I think the levy is more accurate than its reputation.”
Gas customers are to pay the gas surcharge of a good 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour from October. The money is intended to relieve companies that have to buy expensive gas elsewhere to fulfill their contracts because of the reduced deliveries from Russia. The companies are to be compensated for 90 percent of the resulting additional costs from October. This is intended to prevent company bankruptcies and ultimately delivery failures.
Twelve companies had previously registered a claim to money from the levy. The claims total around 34 billion euros; a large part is attributable to the ailing gas importers Uniper and Sefe (formerly Gazprom Germania). However, there are also companies on the list that are not currently in economic difficulties.
