ANP
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The closet negotiate with energy companies on a maximum price for energy and on the skimming of extreme profits. “Cunning”, Diederik Samsom calls these ideas. “But the Netherlands is lagging behind when it shows that other European countries have already done a lot.”
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Samsom is the head of the cabinet of Frans Timmermans, Vice President of the European Commission. He helped devise the plans that the commission did proposed this week keep energy prices manageable for entrepreneurs and citizens. The Member States will design and implement the plans themselves.
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Many EU countries have already invented measures, such as the additional taxes on the high profits that energy companies are making. Samsom: “The Dutch government has been saying since before the summer that it is actually too late to take such measures. If you continue to do so, it will automatically become true, then it will become January.”
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Families with a sauna have to pay a little more.
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However, Samsom is pleased that the Netherlands is taking action. “If we move back, it just gets harder.” Some of the Dutch ideas may correspond to European plans, such as limiting the price consumers pay for energy.
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Samsom explains how such a ceiling can work: “The first 1500 kilowatt hours, half the annual consumption of an average family, you give them at that lowest price. Do the same with gas. If a family still consumes more. more than that, because of the electric blanket, the swimming pool or the sauna, that family has to pay a little more. “
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“People with average consumption don’t have to worry about a huge bill. But this system encourages you to do your best to use less energy.”
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Hinder green investments?
Brussels also wants oil and gas producers, such as Shell and BP, to pay 33% more tax on the extra profit they made this year. Samsom calls it a “solidarity tax” on “screeching profits”.
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Furthermore, the Commission wants a cap on income for renewable electricity and nuclear power producers. Many of these companies now do a lot high profits because the price of gas determines the price of electricity. The cap means that companies will not receive more than 180 euros per megawatt hour, much less than what they are currently receiving.
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Some experts fear that this plan will hinder investments in green energy. “We struggled a bit with that,” says Samsom. “But those companies now get 360 euros per megawatt hour, while wind farms and solar parks, with some variation of course, produce less than 100 euros per megawatt hour. I wish those companies the best, but those excess profits really belong to consumers.”
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“We have had good talks with major investors in sustainable energy. We are not slowing down those investments with this plan.”
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“Next winter will be difficult”
Brussels also wants countries to save even more energy. Samsom predicts that Europe will overtake next winter with current stocks, but next winter will be more complicated. Because Europe will probably receive almost no gas from Russia. “That’s why we need to start saving energy now.”
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“If we do it well, we will survive next winter. In the next few years we will deploy a lot of sustainable energy. In three or four years we will get rid of the problems.”
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