Romanian tax collection agency ANAF drafted a bill which introduces an 80 % tax on the revenues generated by the energy products in excess of 91 euros/MWh.
The average price of electricity on the spot market in December, when 40 % of the electricity delivered to end-users was purchased from this market, was 230 euros/MWh and the high price of the CO2 certificates was partly responsible for this increase. That is why coal and gas based electricity producers will be exempted from this tax.
A windfall revenue tax similar to the one proposed by ANAF was announced by the Government at the end of last year as a source to finance the energy consumer subsidies, which were enforced as of November and are going to be boosted by the Government for the period February-March 2022.
At the same time, this windfall revenue tax can be seen as a way to offset the difference between the electricity producers burning fossil fuels for which the tax is waived and the other electricity producers. In a way, this has the effect of temporarily offsetting the effects of the system of CO2 certificates set in place at the level of the European Union to discourage the use of fossil fuels.
However, many energy companies warned that, even a temporary introduction of such levy, would have a major impact on the volume of long-term investments in the energy sector. Italian Enel had planned to invest 2 billion euros in its operations in Romania, but it is reconsidering the plans after the Government decided to cap energy prices and levy a windfall revenue tax, including in the segment of renewable energy generation. According to Enel Group CEO Francesco Starace, the volume of investments will be downsized if the measures remain in place. Enel believes that the measures imposed by the Romanian authorities are incorrect, discourage investors, create instability, do not solve structural problems and need to be changed, as happened with the measures taken by other Governments in Europe.
