The CHP Act 2017 – An insight into the new privileging regulations – by courtesy of PwC:

In August 2016, the German legislature and the EU Commission agreed on a comprehensive energy package. This entailed the CHP Act 2016 having to be revised again. The draft CHP Act 2017 saw, in particular, the limiting mechanisms of the CHP levy being adjusted in accordance with the relevant regulations of the EEG 2017.

But according to the current draft of the CHP Act it will in future be necessary to have a limitation notice of the EEG levy in accordance with §§ 63 et seq. EEG 2017 (special equalisation arrangement) in order for the CHP levy to be reduced. The CHP Act 2017 will enter into force on 1 January 2017. However, the regulations for the privilege system already apply retroactively as from 1 January 2016; additionally, there are also numerous transitional regulations.

For companies in the final consumer group B, the following shall apply until 31.12.2016: Companies should report to their network operator responsible for the delivery points the proportional quantities of electricity obtained from the network and self-consumed as well as quantities forwarded to third parties for the year 2016.

For companies in the final consumer group C, the following shall apply until 31.12.2016: For the limiting year 2016, companies should submit an accountant’s certificate in accordance with § 26 section 2 CHP 2016 to the network operator responsible, and analogous to the final consumer group B report their electricity quantities as well as forwarded quantities on the basis of the business figures 2015 (ratio electricity costs to sales revenues of at least 4%).

Here is some further information:

In addition to the above, we would like to point out that for an assignment to the corresponding final consumer group a confirmation by the network operator would be advisable before 31.12.2016 so as to safeguard for your company the transitional provisions of the CHP Act 2017.

Please also note that the CHP Act 2017 is only a draft, so changes could still be made until it becomes law on 1 January 2017. Further, we would like to point out that the European Commission has so far only attacked the CHP Act 2016 in connection with state aid law. Since both § 19 section 2 Electricity Network Charges Ordinance and the offshore liability levy refer to the mechanisms of the CHP Act 2016, it is assumed that the regulations in accordance with the Electricity Network Charges Ordinance and § 17f Energy Industry Law could also be objected to by the EU Commission. However, this has not happened as of yet so the known mechanisms continue to exist. In this respect, the accountant’s certificate (ratio electricity costs to sales revenues of at least 4%) will, in any case, still be required for a reduction of these two levies. We will keep you informed in this respect.

We will also be very pleased to answer your questions and, if needed, check the requirements of the final consumer group C.

Simon Fahrenholz – Senior Manager | Prokurist
PricewaterhouseCoopers AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
Tel.: +492119812346
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