Slovakia looks to claw back renewable energy subsidies

By bne IntelliNews May 24, 2013

bne -

The Slovak government is mulling a plan to pile additional taxes on renewable energy producers that have benefitted from overly-generous state support, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on May 23.

"Support to electricity produced from renewable sources was so generous in the past that it was very interesting from the business point of view, but it also affects electricity prices," Fico said, according to CTK.

Bratislava will use any revenue from the additional taxes on green electricity producers to push electricity prices lower, the PM added. However, the government will wait to see what steps the EU is set to take in the matter, with several other states having recently slashed support levels. Energy topped the bill at this week's meeting of EU leaders.

As next-door in the Czech Republic, the last decade saw a huge boom in wind and (especially) solar power in Slovakia, driven by high feed-in tariffs. Surrounded by suspicion of corruption, the systems of support in both countries now face intermittent investigation. Meanwhile, consumers are left with a bill that tots up to billions of euros.

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