Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:146. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Finance to outline his plans for a windfall tax, and the EU-wide plans for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39526/23]
View answerWednesday, 20 September 2023
Questions (146)
Written answers
I understand, following clarification from the Deputy’s office, that this question relates to the measures introduced by the EU Energy Council last year in Regulation 2022/1854 of 6 October 2022 on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices. This Regulation was introduced to address windfall gains identified as arising in the energy sector due to the increase in energy prices mainly as a result of the war in Ukraine and is effective across EU Member States.
In addition to electricity demand reduction provisions, the Regulation contains two measures targeted at windfall gains in the energy sector as follows:
(i) A Temporary Solidarity Contribution (TSC) on a measure of “excess” taxable profits for the fossil fuel production and oil refining sector for the years 2022 and/or 2023, and
(ii) An electricity market price cap for non-gas electricity generators, for the period 01 December 2022 to 30 June 2023, that have not seen significant increases in their generation costs (i.e. primarily renewables).
Energy policy is under the remit of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC), who have led on domestic implementation of the Regulation, with support from the Department of Finance and other Departments and agencies.
On 13 June last, the Government approved the implementation of the Energy Windfall Regulation in two separate pieces of legislation as follows:
1. The Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Temporary Solidarity Contribution) Act 2023. This contains provisions relating to the TSC, was signed into law on 17 July, and was commenced by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications with effect from 02 August.
2. The Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023. This contains provisions relating to the electricity market price cap, and is currently before the Houses of the Oireachtas.
With these measures recently introduced (TSC) or still in progress (Market Cap), there are no plans at this time to introduce a windfall tax on the profits of energy companies.