Romania keeps tax on natural monopoly for energy companies

The Romanian Government will keep the tax on natural monopoly for companies in the electricity and natural gas sector at least until 2020, according to a draft document. The tax needs to be paid by electricity and gas transport operators, such as Transelectrica and Transgaz, as well as by electricity and gas distributors that have concluded concession contracts with the Economy Ministry or local authorities, reports local Profit.ro. Tax rates range from RON 0.1 to RON 0.85 per MWh and are applied to the income from the transport and distribution of electricity and gas. The fee was introduced in 2013 and was due to be removed at the end of 2015. In December last year, the Government decided to keep it for another year. However, an official document drafted in April this year shows that the Government actually wants to keep the tax at least until 2020. editor@romania-insider.com