The controversial gas surcharge is said to have been created with the cooperation of two large energy companies, reports the news portal “Business Insider”. Alongside officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and representatives of the struggling gas group Uniper, they worked on the regulation in July to ensure that all gas customers were charged equally.
Uniper would have made a loss of almost 50,000 euros every minute due to the drastic increase in gas prices, the report goes on to say. Rating agencies threatened to downgrade Uniper’s credit rating. “At the time, the agencies had demanded that we approach the ownership structure and the consumers,” quoted “BI” from an anonymous participant. Politicians were alarmed.
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The result – after 14 days of work – is a rescue package worth 15 billion euros, including the now controversial gas surcharge, which will also bring those who have won the crisis additional income of around 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour from October. “That was overlooked,” admit those involved to the news portal.
The gas levy was by no means the only option discussed in July. But they were all discarded: a complete takeover of Uniper was out of the question for the federal government, according to the report.
The costs would have far exceeded those of the rescue package. In addition, the cabinet had struggled with the business of climate-unfriendly coal-fired power plants.
The Finnish government and the Finnish majority owner would also have been critical of the Federal Republic getting involved. They were worried because both had already invested billions in the gas group Uniper.
