The European Commission proposed on Wednesday that EU member states collect oil and gas companies' excess profits, which exceeded a 20% increase in 2022 compared to the average profits of the previous three years.
"The Commission is also proposing a temporary solidarity contribution on excess profits generated from activities in the oil, gas, coal and refinery sectors which are not covered by the inframarginal revenue cap. This time-limited contribution would maintain investment incentives for the green transition. It would be collected by Member States on 2022 profits which are above a 20% increase on the average profits of the previous three years," a statement read.
The European Commission proposes to temporarily limit the income of electricity producers operating on renewable energy sources, nuclear energy, lignite, according to the bloc's emergency measures released on Wednesday.
The commission suggests that EU countries reduce overall electricity use by at least 10% by the end of March, 2023, according to the bloc's emergency measures released on Wednesday.
"To target the most expensive hours of electricity consumption, when gas-fired power generation has a significant impact on the price, the Commission proposes an obligation to reduce electricity consumption by at least 5% during selected peak price hours. Member States will be required to identify the 10% of hours with the highest expected price and reduce demand during those peak hours. The Commission also proposes that Member States aim to reduce overall electricity demand by at least 10% until 31 March 2023," the commission said.
"Reducing demand at peak times would lead to a reduction of gas consumption by 1.2bcm over the winter. Increasing energy efficiency is also a key part of meeting our climate commitments under the European Green Deal," the EU body added.
The European Commission in its proposals for new energy measures for the European Union does not propose to set a price cap for gas from Russia.
