Energy checks of 100 or 200 euros for low-income households, energy increase limited to 15% instead of 120%, aid to communities and small businesses… The Government has presented its new “energy shield” for the year 2023 .
If this new version is reduced compared to the current one that has been in force since the beginning of the year, it will not be painless for public finances. From the Côte de Bercy, we have done the calculations and the total cost of the aid should be around 45,000 million euros in a full year, 34,000 million for electricity and 11,000 million for gas.
However, this is not the amount advanced today by the Minister of Economy. Bruno Le Maire estimated that this measure would cost 16,000 million euros in 2023 in public finances, 11,000 million euros for gas aid, 5,000 million for electricity.
An “electric superprofit tax”
Why so much difference? Because on the one hand there are the gross costs, that is, what will come out of the state coffers and whose amount will be 45,000 million euros, and on the other hand the net cost, that is, the total cost of the aid, of which it is necessary to deducted what the State will recover from the electricity companies.
This additional income is linked to what is called the market mechanism that France wants to see extended to a European level.
Currently, wholesale electricity prices in Europe are quite a complex calculation in a market. But in this market prices have skyrocketed in recent months to exceed 1,000 euros per megawatt hour last August. An exchange price but that does not correspond to the real cost of production, particularly in France, which is much lower than this market price.
Therefore, France has decided to recover the difference, which is similar to a tax on the “super profits” of electricity producers.
According to Bercy’s calculations, this amount amounts to 19,000 million euros for the whole of 2023.
The “renewables” contribute 9,000 million euros
Added to this is a reduction in public spending to support renewable energies as well as a “participation” of the State in the benefits obtained in the sector. The increase in energy prices is such that, for the first time, utility rates will be offset by renewable energy operators will be negative in 2023, which means revenue for the state, the French energy police said on Monday.
The State pays the operators when the market price is lower than the guaranteed price (which is usually the case for renewable energies). On the contrary, the latter pay income to the State when the market price exceeds the guaranteed price. The recipe this time amounts to 9,000 million euros.
The Minister of Economy is pleased that this device has been launched, which “prevents electricians from benefiting from an income.”
Source: BFM TV
