REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL Report on Chapter III of Council Regulation (EU) No 2022/1854 of 6 October 2022 on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices Solidarity contribution and enacted equivalent measures: stocktaking
Date: 2025-05-14
Institutions: Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission
Subjects: EU energy policy, coal, crisis management, crude oil, energy crisis, fossil fuel, natural gas, petroleum product, price increase, price of energy

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 14.5.2025  COM(2025) 237 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL Report on Chapter III of Council Regulation (EU) No 2022/1854 of 6 October 2022 on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices   Solidarity contribution and enacted equivalent measures: stocktaking  
 
 
I. 

Introduction   

This  report  presents  the  findings  of  the  review  of  the  provisions  set  out  in  Chapter  III  of  Council 
Regulation  (EU)  No  2022/1854  of  6  October  20221  on  an  emergency  intervention  to  address  high 
energy prices (hereinafter, the Council Regulation) in view of the general situation of the fossil fuel 
sector and surplus profits generated. This second and final report is presented to the Council by the 
Commission  pursuant  to  its  reporting  obligation  under  Article  20,  paragraph  2  of  the  Council 
Regulation, as a follow-up to the first report of November 20232.  

In particular, the report aims to provide an update of the general situation of the fossil fuel sector in 
2024. It also presents information on the collected proceeds for the fiscal years 2022 and 2023 and the 
total estimated proceeds for both fiscal years, and an analysis of the use of said proceeds by Member 
States. The report is the result of the reporting information submitted by Member States in accordance 
with  their  obligation  under  Article  19  (4)  of  the  Council  Regulation,  taking  into  account  the 
developments in the fossil fuel sector and evolution of profits generated in this sector.  

II. 

Background 

Chapter III of the Council Regulation set a mandatory temporary solidarity contribution on the surplus 
profits generated in the fiscal years 2022 and/or 2023, depending on Member States’ policy choice, 
for EU companies and permanent establishments with activities in the crude petroleum, natural gas, 
coal  and  refinery  sectors  generating  at  least  75  %  of  their  turnover  from  economic  activities  in  the 
field  of  the  extraction,  mining,  refining  of  petroleum  or  manufacturing  of  coke  oven  products. 
Member States had to implement the solidarity contribution by 31 December 2022, unless they had 
enacted  equivalent  national  measures  contributing  to  the  affordability  of  energy  by  that  date.  The 
latter  are  national  measures  that  share  similar  objectives  and  are  subject  to  similar  rules  as  the 
solidarity contribution that generate comparable or higher proceeds to the estimated proceeds from the 
solidarity contribution. 

The Council Regulation provided the base for calculating the solidarity contribution and a minimum 
tax  rate.  Only  taxable  profits  generated  in  2022  and/or  2023  above  a  20  %  increase  of  the  average 
taxable profits generated in the four fiscal years starting on or after 1 January 2018 were subject to the 
solidarity  contribution.  The  minimum  rate  determined  by  Member  States  was  set  at  33%. 
Furthermore, Chapter III also listed the purposes the proceeds of the solidarity contribution must be 
used for, with the aim that the measure reduces and mitigates the harmful effects of the energy crisis 
for households and companies across the Union, whilst protecting the internal market and preventing 
the risk of further fragmentation.  

Chapter III of the Council Regulation was in force until 31 December 2023. This is without prejudice 
to the Commission’s obligation to report to the Council on the state of implementation of Chapter III 
across  Member  States.  The  Commission  had  to  present  its  second  report  by  15 October  2024. 
However,  since  Member  States  could  apply  the  solidarity  contribution  or  their  enacted  equivalent 
national  measures  during  the  fiscal  years  2022  and  2023,  the  proceeds  were  known  only  at  a  later 
stage. Those proceeds will continue to be collected in some Member States also in the near future.  

1 OJ L 261I, 7.10.2022, p. 1; ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/1854/oj 
2 COM(2023) 768 final. 

1 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
III. 

General situation of the fossil fuel sector 

This  section  presents  developments  in  the  general  situation  of  the  fossil  fuel  sector  since  the  first 
report of the Commission to the Council which was published end-2023. Chapter III of the Council 
Regulation  laying  down  an  obligation  for  Member  States  to  apply  the  solidarity  contribution  or 
alternatively enact equivalent national measures has helped Member States to foot part of the financial 
burden related to the cost of energy measures in support of households and businesses.  

Since the  publication of the  first  report from the  Commission  to the  Council, a  gradual  decrease in 
energy prices took place throughout 2023. Despite the fact that prices remain above historical levels, 
the  environment  for  generating  windfall  profits  has  tempered  compared  to  the  extraordinary 
conditions of the previous year 2022.  

Table 1: average price developments for selected energy products, 2018-2024 

Energy 
product 

Gas 
Gas 
Coal 
Oil 
Diesel 

Unit 
Wholesale 
EUR/MWh 
Retail EUR/MWh 
EUR/tonne 
EUR/barrel 
EUR/L 

Pre-crisis 
average 
(2018-
2021) 

2022 

2023 

2024 (31/12/2024) 

23 
69 
70 
54 
1.29 

123 
137 
283 
97 
1.83 

41 
116 
120 
76 
1.71 

34 
104 
103 
75 
1.61 

(sources: European Commission, DG ENER Chief Economist, based on S&P Global Commodities, VaasaETT, Weekly Oil 
Bulletin) 

Natural gas  

The measures adopted by the EU and Member States in 2022 have eased the pressure on the energy 
markets and thus reduced natural gas prices, which have fluctuated at or below EUR 50/MWh since 
early 20233. However, prices remain volatile and higher than historical averages.  

The EU remains more resilient and better prepared to minimise price volatility thanks to the continued 
large inflow of LNG (LNG imports went up from 70 bcm in 2021 to 100-120 bcm in 2023/2024), the 
healthy levels of storage filling, the gas demand reduction effort (-18% for the period August 2022 to 
July  2024,  thus  above  the  15%  target)  and  the  accelerated  deployment  of  renewables  (+56  GW  of 
solar  and  wind  installed  in  2022,  71  GW  installed  in  2023  and  almost  80  GW    installed  in  2024, 
saving  more  than  10  bcm of  gas  demand  annually).  The  EU  has  also  partially compensated for the 
missing Russian gas volumes with EU dependency on Russian gas falling to 19% in 2024 from 45% 
in 2021 thanks to a rise in LNG imports and pipeline flows from more reliable international partners. 

Crude oil and refined oil products 

3 Source: S&P Global Commodity Insights. 

2 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
Global  crude  oil  prices  decreased  in  2024  to  a  level  revolving  around  75  USD/barrel  on  overall 
improvement  of  market  fundamentals  pointing  to  less  tightness  in  the  market4.  This  is  partially 
compensated by the risk premium in the market linked to recent Middle East events that could affect 
further supply and transport routes. Oil prices had increased reacting to the  crisis in the Middle East 
and on the extension until the end of the year of voluntary cuts announced by OPEC+ in early April 
and June 20235, confirmed again in November 2023 and December 2024 (the move by OPEC+ was 
an  attempt  to  redress  the  plummeting  oil  prices’  trend:  below  75  USD/barrel  in  June  2023  from 
around  100  USD/barrel  in  October  2022  and  around  60  USD/barrel  in  the  first  half  of  2021).  The 
decreasing trend has been supported by Western sanctions and price caps on Russian oil6 as well as 
concerns about the global macroeconomic outlook, especially following recent economic weakness in 
China, and slow recovery in western economies and tightening global monetary policies. Nudged by 
the EU embargo on Russian oil, the EU managed to diversify away from its Russian oil dependency.  

As regards refined oil products, after a steep decrease until the beginning of the summer 2023 with 
diesel prices at 1.55 EUR/L in June 2023 from above 2 EUR/L the previous year7, oil products prices 
were  bouncing  back  (diesel  at  1.71  EUR/L in  20238) mirroring  latest months’ crude  oil  prices  rises 
and  sustained  by  strong  demand  leading  to  higher  refining  margins  for  European  refiners.  In  2024, 
diesel prices revolved around the level of 1.61 EUR/L.  Diesel had price spikes in June and October 
2022 (going above 2 EUR/L) due to the fact that central and Eastern Europe was until then supplied 
predominantly by Russian diesel, which took some time to replace from other sources.  

Coal 

After peaking above 400 EUR/tonne in summer 2022 from pre-crisis prices at around 50 EU/tonne, 
coal prices have been continuously falling to stabilise at around 100 EUR/tonne in summer 2023 and 
in  2024.  The  EU  embargo  on  Russian  coal  introduced  in  the  fifth  sanctions  package9  has  allowed 
Europe to completely diversify away from Russian coal by securing alternatives from more reliable 
partners, thus helping to stabilise prices. 

IV. 

Estimated and collected proceeds and their use under Chapter III of the Council 
Regulation  

Article  14  of  the  Council  Regulation  gave  Member  States  the  possibility  of  applying  the  solidarity 
contribution or enacting equivalent national measures. As a reminder, of the 27 Member States who 
have reported to the Commission, 16 apply the solidarity  contribution (AT, BG, CY, DE, DK, EL, FI, 
FR, HR, IE, LT, NL, PL, RO, SI, SK), while 8 Member States (BE, CZ, EE, ES, HU, IT, PT, SE) have 
opted for the adoption or application of enacted equivalent national measures as explicitly allowed by 
the Council Regulation. In addition, 3 Member States (LU, LV, MT) reported they have no companies 
or permanent establishments in scope of the Council Regulation to which the solidarity contribution 

4 Source: S&P Global Commodity Insights. 
5 OPEC+ 1.66 million barrels per day (mbpd) voluntary cut announced in early April and additional 1 mbpd cut 
for July (and later extended to end of 2023) announced by Saudi Arabia on 4 June. Russia also announced a cut 
of oil exports by 0.3mbpd in September (later extended to the end of 2023). 
6  5  December  2022  marked  the  entry  into  force  of  the  EU  embargo  on  Russian  seaborne  crude  oil  and  G7+ 
coalition  60  USD/barrel  price  cap  on  Russian  oil  (the  price  cap  will  allow  European  operators  to  transport 
Russian  oil  to  third  countries,  provided  its  price  remains  strictly  below  the  cap)  -  EUR-Lex  -  02014R0833-
20230624 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu). 
7 Source: European Commission Weekly Oil Bulletin. 
8 Source: European Commission Weekly Oil Bulletin. 
9 Source: European Commission Weekly Oil Bulletin (6 November). 

3 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
could  apply.  For  further  details  on the  specific implementation,  including the  applicable fiscal year, 
the Commission’s first report to the Council can be consulted10. 

1. Reported collected proceeds  

For the purpose of this report, Member States reported on any collected proceeds of measures under 
Chapter III of the Council Regulation for both the fiscal year 2022 and 2023, depending on the year of 
application in their respective jurisdictions (as of 30 June 2024). For the purposes of this report, 17 
Member States (AT, BE, BG, DE, ES, EE, EL, FR, HU, IE, IT11, NL, RO, PL, PT, SI, SK) reported 
collected  proceeds for  2022  and  12 Member  States  (AT,  BE,  BG,  CZ,  DK,  EE,  ES,  IE,  IT,  PL,  PT, 
RO)  reported  collected  proceeds  for  2023.  1  Member  State  (HR)  reported  zero  proceeds  for  2022 
while  7  Member  States  (CY,  DE,  FI,  LT,  SK,  SE,  SI)  reported  zero  proceeds  for  2023.  It  is  also 
important to note with respect to the figures in Table 2 that there are a few Member States such as 
Latvia, Luxembourg, or Malta reporting to have no companies in scope.  On 30 June 2024, collected 
proceeds for the fiscal year 2022 amounted to EUR 16,497 million. For the fiscal year 2023, collected 
proceeds  amounted to  EUR  9,653  million.  Collected  proceeds  for  both  fiscal  years  2022  and  2023 
hence amounted to EUR 26,150 million. 

This represents higher revenues than were reported in the 2023 report. There, collected proceeds for 
the fiscal year 2022 had amounted to EUR 6,850 million, while the total had been estimated at EUR 
17,574 million. 

Table 2: Collected proceeds (in million EUR) as of 30 June 2024, as reported by Member States 
to the Commission for the fiscal years 2022 and 2023. 

          Year 
MS 
Poland 

Netherlands 
Italy12 
Czechia 
Spain 
Romania 

Greece 
Belgium 
Slovakia 
Hungary 

Ireland 
Bulgaria 

Estonia 
Germany 
Austria 

2022 

2023 

3,901.00  3,026.00 
5,629.00 
NA 
2,897.00  3,413.00 

2022+2023 
6,927.00 
5,629.00 
6,310.00 

1,089.34 

NA  1,564.00 
390.12 
624.78 
0.00 
306.37 
0.00 
NA 
99.70 
111.00 
42.10 
0.00 
18.00 

633.22 
631.00 
288.94 
520.00 
351.37 
167.20 
43.30 
81.00 
113.00 
79.00 

1,564.00 
1,479.46 
1,258.00 

631.00 
595.31 
520.00 
351.37 
266.90 
154.30 
123.10 
113.00 
97.00 

10 COM(2023) 768 final 
11  Italy  reported  it  collected  2.897  bn  euro  in  2022  for  its  preceding  national  measure  as  explained  in 
COM(2023) 768 final 
12 Italy reported it collected 2.897bn euro in 2022 for its preceding national measure as explained in COM(2023) 
768 final 

4 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
France 
Denmark 
Portugal 
Slovenia 
Croatia 
Cyprus 
Finland 
Lithuania 
Sweden 
Latvia 
Luxembourg 
Malta 

67.00 
NA 
4.80 
0.74 
0.00 
NA 
NA 
NA 
NA 
NA 
NA 
NA 

Total  

16,497 

NA 
54.90 
3.50 
0.00 
NA 
0.00 
0.00 
0.00 
0.00 
NA 
NA 
NA 

9,653 

67.00 
54.90 
8.30 
0.74 
0.00 
0.00 
0.00 
0.00 
0.00 
NA 
NA 
NA 

26,150 

2. Reported estimated proceeds 

As part of the Commission’s monitoring of the application of Chapter III of the Council Regulation, 
Member States also reported estimated proceeds for the fiscal year 2023. For the purposes of this, 12 
Member States (BE, BG, CZ, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, PL, PT, RO, SK) have provided an estimate. For 
6 of these Member States (DE, DK, EL, ES, RO, SK), the estimate is higher than what they reported 
as  already  collected.  AT  and  IE  have  not  provided  a  specific  point  estimate;  hence,  the  collected 
proceeds were used instead to provide a minimum estimate. The figure of estimated proceeds for the 
fiscal year 2023 (as of 30 June 2024) is EUR 12,164 million. This is EUR 2,511 million higher than 
what has been collected in the fiscal year 2023 so far (see below). Combining the collected proceeds 
for the fiscal year 2022 with the estimated proceeds for 2023 yields a total of EUR 28,661 million. 

Table 3: Overview of estimated proceeds (in million EUR) as of 30 June 2024 as reported by 
Member States to the Commission for the fiscal year 2023. 

          Status 
MS 

Italy 
Poland 
Czechia 
Germany 
Spain 
Romania 
Greece 

Slovakia 
Belgium 

Bulgaria 
Ireland* 
Denmark 
Estonia 

Estimated  Collected 
3,413.00 

3,413.00 

3,026.00 
1,564.00 

1,000.00 
824.97 
787.00 
478.00 
401.00 
306.37 

111.00 
99.70 
89.40 
42.10 

3,026.00 
1,564.00 

0.00 
390.12 
624.78 
0.00 
0.00 
306.37 
111.00 
99.70 
54.90 
42.10 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Austria* 
Portugal 
Cyprus 
Finland 
Lithuania 

Slovenia 
Sweden  
Croatia 

France 
Hungary 
Latvia 
Luxembourg 
Malta 
Netherlands 

18.00 
3.50 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
NA 

NA 
NA 
NA 
NA 
NA 
NA 

Total  

12,164 

18.00 
3.50 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
NA 
NA 
NA 
NA 
NA 
NA 
NA 

9,653 

*estimated proceeds not reported; collected proceeds shown instead 

V.  Use of proceeds 

Member States were required to report also on the use of proceeds from the solidarity contribution or 
the enacted equivalent measures. Article 17 of the Council Regulation set out the spending purposes 
for which those proceeds can be used, in line with the objective of the Council Regulation of reducing 
the burden of the rising energy prices on final energy customers. 

Pursuant  to  Article  17,  Member  States  must  use  the  proceeds  of  the  solidarity  contribution  or  the 
equivalent enacted measure for one or more of the following purposes:  

(a) financial support measures for final energy customers, and in particular vulnerable households, to 
mitigate the effects of high energy prices, in a targeted manner; 

(b)  financial  support  measures  to  help  reducing  the  energy  consumption  such  as  through  demand 
reduction auctions or  tender schemes, lowering the energy purchase costs of final energy customers 
for  certain  volumes  of  consumption,  promoting  investments  by  final  energy  customers  into 
renewables, structural energy efficiency investments or other decarbonisation technologies; 

(c) financial support measures to support companies in energy intensive industries provided that they 
are  made  conditional  upon  investments  into  renewable  energies,  energy  efficiency  or  other 
decarbonisation technologies; 

(d) financial support measures to develop the energy autonomy, in particular investments in line with 
the  REPowerEU  objectives  set  in  the  REPowerEU  Plan  and  in  the  REPowerEU  Joint  European 
Action such as projects with a cross-border dimension; 

(e) in a spirit of solidarity between Member States, Member States may assign a share of the proceeds 
of the temporary solidarity contribution to the common financing of measures to reduce the harmful 
effects  of  the  energy  crisis,  including  support  for  protecting  employment  and  the  reskilling  and 
upskilling  of  the  workforce,  or  to  promote  investments  in  energy  efficiency  and  renewable  energy, 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
including in cross-border projects, and in the Union renewable energy financing mechanism provided 
for in Article 33 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council (11). 

The Regulation is silent on the allocation of proceeds to the different spending purposes enumerated 
in Article 17 of the Council Regulation; therefore, Member States have the freedom to choose which 
purpose  to  destine  the  collected  proceeds  to,  and  whether  to  divide  the  collected  proceeds  amongst 
one or more the different listed purposes. 

Based on the reporting by Member States most of them have opted to destine the proceeds towards 
financial support measures for final energy customers, and in particular vulnerable households.  

It is the single selected destination for eleven Member States (BE, DK, FR, EL, IE, HU, PL, PT, RO, 
SI, SK). For six other Member States (AT, CZ, DE, IE, IT, NL) proceeds have been shared amongst 
several  of  the  options  listed  in  Article  17:  in  addition  to  support  for  final  energy  consumers  of 
paragraph (a) above, other destinations for the collected revenues have been those of paragraphs (b) 
(financial support measures to help reducing the energy consumption), (c) (financial support measures 
to support companies in energy intensive industries) and (d) (financial support measures to develop 
the energy autonomy). There are nine Member States who have not reported any use of the proceeds, 
either because they did not apply Chapter III of the Council Regulation as they had no companies in 
scope (LU, LV, MT) or because they have not collected any proceeds (CY, FI, HR, LT, SE) or did not 
confirm yet the expenditures (BG).  

Finally, it is noted that the measure(s) set by Chapter III of the Council Regulation did not aim at fully 
financing the fiscal cost of the various domestic policy measures taken by Member States to alleviate 
the effect  of  soaring energy  prices  for citizens  and  businesses  but to contribute  to such  efforts. The 
Commission  has  assessed  the  impact  of  the  cost  of  energy  measures  from  a  budgetary  perspective. 
The  figures  on  projected  costs  were  much  higher  than  the  estimated  total  proceeds  as  reported  by 
Member  States  to  the  Commission  for  the  solidarity  contribution  or  equivalent  national  measures, 
implying that the latter could only partially finance the projected fiscal expenditure. The net budgetary 
cost of energy support measures in the EU is estimated to have amounted to 1.2% of EU GDP in 2022 
and  0.9%  of  GDP  in  2023,  with  a  high  degree  of  variation  among  the  Member  States.13  This 
corresponds to approximately EUR 190 billion in 2022 and EUR 150 billion in 2023 based on GDP 
turnout data in current prices)14. 

VI.  Conclusions   

This final report on the application of Council Regulation (EU) No 2022/1854 sheds light on market 
developments  in  the  fossil  energy  sector  and  on  the  proceeds  and  spending  purposes  by  Member 
States,  via  the  implementation  of  the  solidarity  contribution  or  an  enacted  equivalent  national 
measure. 

A  glance  at  the  developments  in  the  fossil  energy  markets  shows  that  the  situation  has  very  much 
evolved from what it was like when the Council Regulation entered into force in October 2022. The 
decrease and stabilization in energy prices throughout 2023 and 2024 and a more uncertain economic 
environment and rising capital costs have led companies in oil, gas, and coal sectors to see a decrease 
of their profits as compared to the extraordinary surplus profits of 2022. 

13    See  European  Commission  2024:  European  Economic  Forecast  Spring  2024.  Institutional  Paper  286;  and 
European  Commission  2023:  The  2023  Stability  &  Convergence  Programmes  –  An  Overview  with  an 
Assessment of the Euro Area Fiscal Stance. Institutional Paper 253. 
14 Approximation based on Eurostat GDP outturn data in current prices.  

7 

 
 
 
 
 
 
By  the  cut-off  date  of  30  June  2024,  total  collected  proceeds  for  the  fiscal  years  2022  and  2023 
amount  to  EUR  26,150  million.  Estimated  total  proceeds  for  the  fiscal  year  2023  add  up  to  EUR 
12,164  million,  which  once  collected  would  bring  the  total  collected  revenues  to  EUR  28,661 
million.  This  figure  exceeds  the  original  Commission  estimates  of  EUR  25,000  million  upon  the 
adoption of the proposal for the Council Regulation. While this crisis measure was not aimed at fully 
financing  the  fiscal  cost  of  the  various  domestic  policy  measures  alleviating  the  effect  of  soaring 
energy prices, it has undoubtedly contributed to help Member States mitigate the impact of the energy 
crisis on households and businesses across the EU.  

As the reported use of proceeds shows, of the options granted by the Council Regulation to allocate 
the use of the proceeds to, Member States have mostly opted to destine the proceeds towards financial 
support measures for final energy customers, and in particular vulnerable households. Some Member 
States  have  decided  to  spread  the  revenues  between  the  different  categories  of  stakeholders 
concerned: therefore, in addition to the measures for final energy customers, they have also provided 
support measures for final energy customers, financial support measures to help reducing the energy 
consumption,  financial  support  measures  to  support  companies  in  energy  intensive  industries  and 
financial support measures to develop the energy autonomy.  

8