Government Decision draft to reduce large energy consumers' costs with GCs

Large consumers could be exempted from paying up to 85 percent of the green certificates (GCs) included in electricity invoices, according to a Government Decision draft. The bill draft is meant to help large industrial companies that are burdened by the green certificates they are charged for to support the renewable energy production.  Hence, depending on power consumption, major industrial companies will benefit from a reduction of the mandatory quota of green certificates which ranges from 40 percent to 85 percent– for the largest energy consumers.

“Depending on the energy intensiveness of companies listed in paragraph (2), beneficiaries will be charged the following percentages of green certificates as per the mandatory quota: 15 percent, in case of electric intensity higher than 20 percent, 40 percent, in case of electric intensity of 10-20 percent and 60 percent, in case of electric intensity of 5-10 percent”, is specified by the bill draft posted on the Ministry of Economy website.

The subvention scheme will be effective for ten years, with 50-100 companies estimated to benefit from it. That, if the eligibility criteria is met, meaning that the companies which will request this state-aid must implement energy efficiency measures, maintain their number of employees during the period they are granted these subsidies and they must conclude partnerships with educational institutions in view of attracting qualified staff and increasing the professional level.

There is a ten-day period for public debate on the bill, and after passing it, the subvention scheme will be sent for approval to the EU Commission before coming into force.

This year the mandatory quota of green certificates to be purchased by electricity suppliers was nearly doubled compared to 2012 impacting the large energy consumers, as the subsidies granted to renewable energy producers are supported by the final consumers, the green certificates being included in the electricity bills.