{"id":405279,"date":"2026-04-22T15:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/405279\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:02:12","slug":"eu-plans-to-cut-electricity-taxes-to-shield-households-from-iran-war-energy-crisis-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/405279\/","title":{"rendered":"EU plans to cut electricity taxes to shield households from Iran war energy crisis | Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The EU will cut electricity taxes and provide consumers with fresh incentives to ditch fuel-burning cars and boilers, the European Commission<\/a> has announced, as the energy crisis from the Iran war speeds a shift to a clean economy.<\/p>\n

The plan, which foresees tweaking rules so that electricity is taxed less than oil and gas, aims to bring down bills while encouraging the move away from polluting devices that prolong reliance on foreign fuels.<\/p>\n

The commission said it would adopt temporary state aid rules to allow member countries to directly shield consumers and businesses from high energy prices, but it warned that any support must be \u201ctargeted, timely and temporary\u201d.<\/p>\n

It stopped short of measures introduced after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, such as a windfall tax on oil and gas companies, which five EU finance ministers had called for earlier this month. The commission also ruled out a cap on gas prices, which energy experts had warned would be counterproductive.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy investing in clean energy and electrification, we unlock more money for our economy,\u201d said Dan J\u00f8rgensen, the energy and housing commissioner. \u201cIn the future, instead of buying something and burning it to get energy and buying it again, we need to produce our own homegrown clean energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

A windfarm near Gdansk in Poland. The EU has made progress on renewable energy while falling short on replacing machines that burn oil and gas. Photograph: Gregory Wrona\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Europe sped up its deployment of wind turbines and solar panels after the last energy crisis in 2022 but has made little headway in replacing machines that burn oil and gas. The lingering reliance on foreign fuels has left the EU vulnerable to price spikes since the war in Iran, which some analysts fear will persist even if the war ends quickly.<\/p>\n

The commission said it would set an electrification target before the summer and propose action to lower the price ratio between electricity and fossil fuels. Experts say this is a key factor in whether consumers and industries adopt cleaner technologies, including by phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.<\/p>\n

Proposals to change the EU\u2019s fragmented tax systems require unanimous approval from member states and have historically been hard to pass. Green groups said the plans consisted of \u201chalf measures\u201d.<\/p>\n

Antony Froggatt, of the campaign group Transport and Environment, said: \u201cThese go in the right direction but fail to create the right EU instruments both on the revenue and financing sides. As oil companies make tens of billions in war profits, windfall taxes that relieve the financial pain for European households are critical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the plans announced on Wednesday, the commission will adopt a legal proposal in May that would incentivise cost-effective use of the electricity grid infrastructure and more flexible consumption habits. It would also give member states and national regulators greater freedom to cut charges and taxes for vulnerable groups and energy-intensive industries.<\/p>\n

Louise Sunderland, of the Regulatory Assistance Project, an energy thinktank, said: \u201cThe proposal to reduce network and tax elements of the electricity bill, which account for on average across the EU over 50% of the household bill, is a quick-acting step in the right direction. But these reforms will only be as effective as their implementation \u2013 and many governments have not yet made use of their existing ability to reduce taxation on electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commission also plans to coordinate the filling of gas storage sites well before the winter months, as well as the procurement of jet fuel, which could soon be in short supply<\/a>. It announced a new observatory to monitor transport fuels and allow it to act before shortages.<\/p>\n

It said it would promote social leasing schemes for clean technologies \u2013 such as electric cars, heat pumps and small-scale batteries \u2013 and help member states set up financial incentives that meet fiscal rules.<\/p>\n

J\u00f8rgensen said the nature of the crisis meant countries needed the freedom to help struggling industries and households, but he added: \u201cSince our long-term goal is to transition away from fossils, anything we do that might \u2013 directly or indirectly \u2013 subsidise fossils needs to be temporary and needs to be very targeted.\u201d<\/p>\n

J\u00f8rgensen has spoken in favour of radical fuel-saving measures<\/a> proposed by the International Energy Agency last month, such as driving less and avoiding flights. Long supported by climate activists to stop the planet from heating, these measures were absent from the main package but appeared in an annexe of good practices adopted by national governments.<\/p>\n

J\u00f8rgensen said: \u201cOn the demand side, we obviously still encourage member states to do whatever they can to bring down demand. Which specific measures member states choose to use, we think is best for member states to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The EU will cut electricity taxes and provide consumers with fresh incentives to ditch fuel-burning cars and boilers,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-405279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}