After the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) surcharge imposed by the Renewable Energy Sources Act had been abolished as of 1 July 2022, revenue from electricity-related environmental taxes decreased from 31.7 billion euros in 2019 to 9.8 billion euros in 2023. These taxes then accounted for 1.0% of government tax revenue or 0.2% of gross domestic product.
| Specification | Unit | 2019 | 2020 | 20211 | 20221,2 | 20231,2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1: Provisional data. Sources: environmental-economic accounts, national accounts Sources: environmental-economic accounts, national accounts and annual accounts of the transmission system operators. | ||||||
| Environmental taxes, total | million euros | 86,423 | 82,765 | 93,260 | 75,972 | 72,970 |
| Including: | ||||||
| Electricity tax | million euros | 6,719 | 6,474 | 6,805 | 6,755 | 6,621 |
| EEG- 3 surcharge | million euros | 22,395 | 22,950 | 22,624 | 6,553 | - |
| KWKG- 4 surcharge (under the Combined Heat and Power Act) | million euros | 1,032 | 806 | 920 | 1,324 | 1,214 |
| Offshore grid surcharge | million euros | 1,528 | 1, 430 | 1,415 | 1,472 | 2,000 |
| Total5 | million euros | 31,675 | 31,659 | 31,764 | 16,104 | 9,836 |
| Share of environmental taxes | % | 36.7 | 38.3 | 34.1 | 21.2 | 13.5 |
| Share of government tax revenue6 | % | 3.7 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 1.7 | 1.0 |
| Share of gross domestic product | % | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Memorandum item: | ||||||
| Interruptible loads surcharge | million euros | 29 | 31 | 30 | 13 | - |
| StromNEV7 surcharge (under the Electricity Network Tariffs Ordinance) | million euros | 902 | 1,014 | 1,228 | 1,246 | 1,119 |
Environmental taxes on electricity as an energy source include electricity tax, EEG- surcharge, KWKG- surcharge and offshore grid surcharge. Other electricity-related charges are not included here because they are not counted as taxes under the European System of Accounts (ESA), for example the interruptible loads surcharge and the Stromnetzentgeltverordnung (StromNEV) surcharge. Further charges are excluded because they are not environment-related (such as value-added tax).
Revenue from electricity-related environmental taxes as a proportion of total government revenue (ESA definition) fell by 2.7 percentage points between 2019 and 2023. This reduced the burden on businesses and households. The decline was mainly due to the discontinuation of the EEG- surcharge as of 1 July 2022. The EEG- surcharge alone accounted for 22.4 billion euros in 2019, as compared with the electricity tax amounting to 6.7 billion euros. Until 30 June 2022, the EEG- surcharge was 37.23 euros per megawatt hour. The electricity tax remained unchanged at 20.50 euros per megawatt hour from 2019 to 2023.
The EEG- surcharge was used to promote renewable energies. Since 1 July 2022, the costs have been fully paid from the federal budget and not allocated to end users anymore. Since then, the funding has come from the Special Energy and Climate Fund to which government revenues accrue from the national and European emissions trading system.
Environmental taxes are part of environmental-economic accounts. The data are shown on an accrual basis. Therefore, the results may differ from tax revenues recorded on a cash basis. For more detailed information on environmental tax accounts please refer to the "Frequently asked questions" and the quality report (only in germany).