(Reuters) -Germany’s parliament on Friday agreed to exempt countries transiting gas from a domestic gas levy, a move welcomed by eastern neighbours who argued the fee hampered their efforts to diversify away from Russian supplies.
Germany agreed in May to scrap the tariff following heavy lobbying from Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, who said the extra cost made alternatives to Russian gas imports too expensive.
The levy, administered by operator Trading Hub Europe (THE) since 2022, was designed to help Germany recoup billions of euros it spent on filling its gas storage caverns to bolster Europe’s gas supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is charged to domestic gas consumers but as a side-effect also applied to buyers of gas at German cross-border points.
But it has also been a reason why private traders were buying cheaper gas from the east, Czech Industry Minister Lukas Vlcek told Reuters in an emailed statement.
“Now I believe that will change. Thanks to alternative supplies and capacity in LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminals that we have secured, there isn’t any reason to be dependent on Russia,” he said.
Germany’s lower house passed a change to the relevant energy law, effective from Jan. 1 2025, that will exempt buyers transiting gas from paying the levy, which from the new year is set to rise by 20% to 2.99 euros a megawatt hour (MWh). The levy will still apply to domestic gas buyers.
The waiver also coincides with the expected end of Russian gas flows via Ukraine on Dec. 31.
In Austria, Russian gas still accounted for 89% of imports in October, according to government data, although the country’s biggest importer, OMV, has since ended its supply contract with Russian oil giant Gazprom.
Germany has 23 billion cubic metres of underground gas storage capacity, the largest in the EU.
(Writing by Vera Eckert in Frankfurt and Nora Buli in Oslo; additional reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague; editing by Friederike Heine, Susanna Twidale and Susan Fenton)
