Brussels, Sept 14 (AFP/APP): The European Commission on Wednesday set out proposals to bring down the soaring price of gas and electricity in the EU, notably by taxing excess profits of power producers.
EU energy ministers are to review the plans in an extraordinary meeting in Brussels on September 30.
In the EU’s electricity market, the price is based on the last source used to meet demand — often a gas-fired power plant — and that is applied to all electricity operators, regardless of whether they use nuclear, hydro-power, solar or other sources.
The commission is calling for a “cap” on exceptional profits raked in by energy producers using cheaper sources but priced at the much higher market rate — effectively a tax, though it veers from calling it that because that would require unanimity by all 27 EU countries.
According to a commission draft seen by AFP, the cap would be set at 180 euros per megawatt hour, and anything above that would go to EU member states’ coffers, to be shared out to struggling households and businesses.
Coal and methane production is excluded.
Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the levy, or cap, would raise at least 140 billion euros ($140 billion).
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