MMore incentives to save energy and more requirements for the use of state aid: These are the central demands made by the gas commission set up by the federal government in its final report published on Monday. Specifically, the committee proposes paying consumers a bonus if they reduce their energy consumption by 20 percent or more.
The committee also advises that both the one-off payment planned for December and the relief provided by the gas price brake should be taxed. With regard to the gas price brake for large industrial consumers, the report recommends linking state aid to the condition that companies remain located in Germany. 90 percent of the jobs should still exist a year after the end of the support.
The federal government set up the commission with 21 members – from economists and trade unionists to housing and social associations – at the end of September. The committee presented an interim report in mid-October. Robert Habeck’s (Greens) Federal Ministry of Economics has already submitted a draft law on the one-time payment in December, which is to be passed by the Federal Cabinet this Wednesday.
Disagreement on aid for companies
The fact that the aid received should be taxed was not provided for in the end, nor were bonuses for a specific savings target. The extent to which the points from the Commission’s final report should still be included in the legislative process remained open on Monday. A spokeswoman from the Ministry of Economics said on request: “The emergency aid should be based as closely as possible on the proposal of the gas commission. Final feasibility talks are still underway for the implementation.”
The reason for the bonuses proposed by the Commission is that Hartz IV recipients currently have little incentive to save energy because in most cases the job center covers the heating costs. The Commission justifies the fact that aid received from an annual income of 72,000 euros should be taxed as a non-cash benefit with distribution policy goals. Low earners could keep full support, but not high earners. According to the recommendations, the December one-time aid should be paid out or offset by December 20th at the latest.
The Commission did not respond to demands from various politicians that the state should also take over gas advance payments for January and February. According to the report, the relief in December “serves as a financial bridge until the regular introduction of the gas price brake” in March.
There was a dissent within the commission as far as aid for the industry is concerned. In principle, the 25,000 companies in this area should receive a reduced gas price of 7 cents per kilowatt hour plus taxes and fees for 70 percent of their previous year’s consumption from January. The economist Isabella Weber distanced herself from the sentence “The consuming company can use the amount of gas extracted for its own purposes or sell it on the market.” She fears that companies will see this as an incentive to reduce their production. Concerns had already been expressed by trade unionists.
Meanwhile, the Greens demanded that the gas price brake for industry not only be linked to the preservation of the location, but also to the waiver of dividend and bonus payments. “Concentration on those who really need help,” said parliamentary group leader Andreas Audretsch. Despite its high gas requirements, the chemical group BASF has already announced that it intends to do without government aid if possible, citing the ongoing dividend discussion as the reason for this.
