Applications for the ‘Support for Gas Intensive Industries’ program opened this Monday and will run until 6:00 p.m. on the 30th or when the respective budget allocation of 160 million euros is exhausted, the IAPMEI announced.
According to a statement from the IAPMEI – Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation, “the objective is that this support, applicable to the entire territory of the continent, supports 30% of the difference between the costs incurred in 2021 and those incurred in 2022, with a maximum limit of 400 thousand euros per company“.
The intention is “to support the liquidity of the companies most affected by the exceptionally sharp increases in the price of natural gas, through a non-refundable incentive that facilitates the continuity of economic activity and the preservation of productive capacities and employment.”
Among other conditions to access this measure, companies must “carry out their main economic activity in a sector or subsector identified in Ordinance No. 140/2022 and in Declaration of Rectification No. 33), provided that a statement signed by An authorized accountant responsible for the accounting of the company is presented, in which it is shown that it is an energy-intensive company”.
Support is awarded in the form of a non-refundable incentivewith a rate of 30% of the eligible cost and a maximum limit of 400,000 euros per company.
The eligible cost is determined by multiplying the number of units of natural gas purchased by the company from external suppliers, as a final consumer in the eligible period, by the amount corresponding to the variation between the price paid by the company per unit consumed in a given month and the unit price paid by the company, on average, between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021.
“Energy-intensive company” means “one whose acquisition costs of energy products and electricity amount to at least 3.0% of the value of production or for which the national tax payable on energy amounts to at least at 0.5% of the added value”.
For the purposes of the call now open, the eligible period is considered to be the period between February 1, 2022 and March 31, 2022.
The 160 million euro incentive from the ‘Support for Gas Intensive Industries’ measure was approved by the European Commission (EC) last Friday, as “support for the liquidity of the companies most affected by exceptionally strong increases in the price of gas”. natural gas”.
“The Commission concluded that the Portuguese regime is necessary, adequate and proportionate to remedy a serious disturbance in the economy of a Member State,” said the community executive in a note released at the time.
Also on Friday, in a statement, the Ministry of the Sea stressed that this decision was “the culmination of a demanding process of negotiation and interaction with the European Commissionafter the notification presented by Portugal on April 22″, and will allow “the attribution of a non-refundable incentive that will support the business fabric to preserve productive capacity and employment, in a particularly challenging context, as a consequence of the aggression of Ukraine by Russia”.
The executive also recalled that “this is one of the measures included in the package of emergency measures to contain the increase in energy and food prices, announced by the Government last April.”
The European Commission’s statement comes at a time of conflict in Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion, geopolitical tensions that have been putting pressure on the European energy market, since the EU imports 90% of the gas it consumes, with Russia responsible for around 45 % of these imports, at varying levels between Member States.
Russia is also responsible for around 25% of the European Union’s oil imports and 45% of coal imports.
Source: Observadora
