Entrepreneurs can apply for an allowance for the high energy costs from 21 March. This is a temporary compensation for the increased gas and electricity prices, for small and medium-sized companies that use a lot of energy.
Entrepreneurs can submit the Energy Costs Allowance for energy-intensive SMEs (TEK) with retroactive effect (from 1 November 2022) up to and including 31 December 2023. The TEK scheme was already announced by the cabinet at the end of last year, but then had to be further elaborated.
Brussels
The European Commission still has to approve the scheme. The subsidy will only be provided if permission has been obtained from Brussels, a spokesman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZK) said. As a result, in the event of a rejection by the European Commission, no amounts received need to be recovered from the SME’s,’ is stated in yesterday’s Government Gazette.
In order to provide entrepreneurs – who are waiting for the scheme – with information, the scheme has already been published in the Government Gazette, says the spokesperson for EZK. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) must also have sufficient time to prepare for processing the applications.
7 percent
Small and medium-sized enterprises whose energy costs amount to at least 7 percent of turnover may be eligible for compensation of up to EUR 160,000. Associations and foundations that meet the conditions of the TEK scheme can also submit an application. The Ministry of Economic Affairs expects that ‘several tens of thousands of companies and organizations’ will be eligible for compensation.
Entrepreneurs who qualify for the TEK scheme receive a maximum of 50 percent of the difference between the threshold price and the maximum price. The threshold price has been set at 1.19 euros per cubic meter for gas and 0.35 euros per kWh for electricity. The maximum price for gas has been set for the scheme at EUR 3.19 per cubic meter and for electricity at EUR 0.95 per kWh.
