An unexpected gift to hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises in the commercial and tourism sector and farmers who paid reduced ETMEAR without being entitled to it is an unexpected gift from the government.

As announced on Wednesday by the Minister of Environment and Energy, Mr. Theodoros Skylakakis during the presentation of the measures to support consumers in electricity, with the initiative of the Prime Minister, these companies will be exempted from the 130 million retroactive refund for the 2019-2020 biennium and from the reduced funds paid for the special fee for the support of Renewable Energy Sources (ETMEAR) and the following years (2021-2023), which are estimated at a total of about 400 million euros.

He said this is a pending matter of hundreds of millions of euros that will not be resolved to the detriment of businesses as some of them were asked to pay up to 300,000 euros. The minister refrained from giving more information on how the state would cover the money missing from the “piggy bank” that businesses would have to pay back.

He limited himself to mention that the possibility of raising 200 million euros from the Recovery Fund to support ELAPE (Special RES Account) will be activated, if the DAPEEP (which is responsible for the payment of RES and ends up with the ETMEAR) does not receive the money from the return of the special tax.

What the Minister of Environment and Energy said

Mr.Skylakakis clarified that the upcoming measures to address the steep prices in the wholesale price of electricity, will not benefit businesses as they require approval from the Commission. However, he revealed that on the initiative of the Prime Minister, the business community will benefit from the arrangement that there will be no refunds on the ETMEAR.

These are debts from previous years that will not be charged to businesses since, as he explained, it is not their fault for paying the reduced fee. These undertakings continued to pay a reduced ETBEAR despite the fact that the Community directive which provided for the sectors subject to a reduced fee was changed as the Greek legislation did not specify which undertakings could qualify for the exemptions in question.

The account

The issue of ETMEAR is another major thorn in the side of the state, after the mess with small businesses that were asked to pay subsidies they were not entitled to (35 KvA) during the energy crisis. The “open” account was revealed by the settlements made by the DPAA and notified to the DPAA for the period 2019 and 2020, which revealed that several companies paid for that period and for the following years a reduced ETMEP without being entitled to the rebate.

Energy suppliers were informed of the reimbursement of funds by a letter sent by the IEEIP on 14 June with an initial deadline of 15 July, which did not take effect. In fact, there was a mobilization of ESPEN (Association of Energy Suppliers) to the Ministry of Environment, which requested the immediate amendment of the ministerial decision on the retroactive settlement of the ETMEAR charges. In addition, they requested the suspension of the collection process from suppliers of the amounts of retroactive settlement for the years 2019-2020.

Industrial consumers are also waiting for the resolution of the ETMEAR, pointing out that the delay so far deprives industry of significant resources. According to the new Guidelines, the Ministry of Energy should have notified by 31/12/2023 for approval to the European Commission a new updated state aid mechanism for the provision of reduced ETMEP, which has not happened so far.

This arrangement would bring eligible industries around €40 million per year for the years 2021, 2022 and 2023. Given that a significant amount is being collected, EVIKEN has requested that the measures should not be limited to the retroactive collection of the amounts for the years 2019 and 2020, but that the settlement should proceed with a specific timetable for the remaining years that remain outstanding.