Electricity sector against new tax on production facilities

"Taxing installed electricity production in France, even though it is carbon-free, or reducing support for the electrification of uses, would be counterproductive for the purchasing power of the French and the fight against climate change," wrote the president of the UFE, Christine Goubet-Milhaud, in a letter sent on Tuesday and seen by AFP.

"Our national and European energy system is at a crossroads," she continued. "Time is running out and any short-term decision without taking into account structural issues" will have "harmful effects on our sovereignty, our energy independence and for generations."

The establishment of a new "contribution on inframarginal rents" (Crim) on production installations or power plants exceeding 260 megawatts (nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, gas) was mentioned by the resigning Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, during a hearing on September 9 before the Finance Committee of
The national assembly.

This "contribution on the inframarginal rents" of electricity producers, who have reaped juicy profits thanks to the surge in energy prices following the war in Ukraine, brought in 400 million euros in 2022, 300 million in 2023 and should generate 100 million in revenue in 2024.

This prospect, which has been under consideration since the spring, worries the sector.

"It is the very definition of a tax that is bad, a production tax with a narrow base and a high rate, which will distort investment decisions in a sector that needs to invest," laments an energy specialist interviewed by AFP.

"We are being taxed even though we are investing in low-carbon energy, and the transition is a counter-climatic signal, even climate-killing," complains another energy company, who also wished to remain anonymous.

Agnès Pannier-Runacher, former Minister of Energy Transition and Minister Delegate for Agriculture in the outgoing government, herself spoke out against it. "This tax targets a company that is 100% public. So we are taking money from one side to give it back from the other. It is not very interesting," she declared on TF1 on Friday. And "it is a tax on decarbonized energy (...) what use is it in relation to the climate?", she added.

In her letter, the president of the UFE, which represents the players in the entire value chain of the French electricity system (electricity producers, distribution and transport network managers, electricity suppliers, etc.) asks in particular that "visibility and stability" be brought to the sector.