Urgent law imposes new tax on renewables in Greece
Through an omnibus 279-page draft law, which was submitted to Parliament on 5 November 2012 and voted within two days, the Greek Government changed in the middle of the game the rules on renewable power investments.
Law “Approval of Fiscal Strategy Mid-Term Framework 2013-2016 – Urgent Implementation Measures of Law 4046/2012…”, Greece’s so called “Memorandum III”, received a marginal majority of 153 votes and passed a series of austerity measures in all public policies (most notoriously on salaries, pensions, the national health system and taxation).
The “solidarity tax” on existing renewable energy installations is imposed retroactively from 1 July 2012 and amounts to 25-30% for solar and 10% for the rest of technologies and CHP.
In response to widespread criticism, the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Energy justified its decisions as necessary for tackling the Market Operator’s deficit of €370 mi. Other revenues for financing this deficit include the auctioning of emissions rights (€120 mi. since June 2011), the imposition of a tax on lignite (€25 mi. since February 2012) and an increase in the duty on renewables, which will be paid by the consumers.
PV producers associations estimate the number of affected investors to approx 9,000 (mainly small/medium scale producers - <100kWp).
Sources: WWF Greece (in Greek), Bloomberg.