“Kommersant” estimated how much energy companies will pay for excess profit tax

The total contribution of the Russian electric power sector to the budget for excess profit tax, according to Kommersant’s calculations, will be up to 25 billion rubles. The largest payments may fall on Rosenergoatom, Inter RAO and Rosseti. The government, according to Kommersant’s sources, continues to discuss whether the withdrawals will affect the implementation of a costly program for the modernization of old thermal power plants and the construction of electricity networks for the Eastern test site. However, analysts believe that the total payment for the sector is not so great, and for Rosseti and RusHydro, with their large investment programs, an exception could be made.

“Kommersant” analyzed the financial (accounting) statements of large electric power companies of the Russian Federation and their subsidiaries in order to assess how much they can give to the budget as part of the windfall tax. Based on the calculations of Kommersant, the contribution of Russian power engineers will be about 25 billion rubles. Some companies disclose the exact amount of the taxable base for income tax (rate of 20%), in other cases, Kommersant calculated the approximate amount of the indicator, based on the amount of profit before tax and the income tax actually paid.

On June 28, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill on excess profit tax for companies whose average pre-tax profit for 2021-2022 exceeded 1 billion rubles. The payment should be 10% of the excess of profit for 2021-2022 over the figure for 2018-2019. If the tax is paid before November 30, the rate will be reduced to 5%.

So, according to Kommersant’s estimates, the largest contribution to the budget can come from Rosenergoatom (part of Rosatom, operates Russian nuclear power plants) – 8-10 billion rubles. The second largest payer is the Inter RAO Group (about 4 billion rubles), including up to 2.3 billion rubles. can pay PJSC Inter RAO, JSC Inter RAO Elektrogeneratsiya – up to 1.3 billion rubles, and Mosenergosbyt (part of Inter RAO) – 0.4 billion rubles. LLC Gazprom Energoholding (manages Gazprom’s energy assets) and its subsidiaries (Mosenergo, OGK-2, TGK-1, MOEK) can collectively pay 1.3-1.7 billion rubles. super profits.

Another 3.3 billion rubles. can be provided by Rosseti, PJSC RusHydro accounts for about 0.9 billion rubles, and PJSC Far Eastern Energy Company (part of RusHydro) accounts for about 0.13 billion rubles. The estimated amount of payment for JSC “Eurosibenergo” (energy business En +) may be in the range of 0.2-1 billion rubles. At Boguchanskaya HPP JSC (a joint project of RusHydro and En +), a one-time payment can reach 0.7 billion rubles. The amount of tax for PJSC “T Plus” can be up to 0.2 billion rubles, from the “System Operator” (SO, energy system dispatcher) they can withdraw up to 0.2 billion rubles.

Unipro (controlled by the German Uniper, under the external control of the Federal Property Management Agency) and PJSC Fortum (controlled by the Finnish Fortum, under the control of the Federal Property Management Agency), according to Kommersant’s estimates, did not have excess profits in 2021-2022. EL5-Energo (controlled by PJSC LUKOIL, formerly Enel Russia) also does not fall under the criteria of the bill, since, according to tax records, it received a loss in 2021.

In the government, according to Kommersant, the discussion continues on how to withdraw most of the energy companies from the windfall tax. According to the relevant regulators, the industry as a whole is not super-profitable, and generating companies are now fulfilling expensive obligations to modernize thermal power plants, several Kommersant interlocutors note.

Rosenergoatom, Gazprom Energoholding, RusHydro, Inter RAO, Fortum, EL5-Energo, Unipro, System Operator, Market Council, Siberian Generating Company, Ministry of Energy have no comments gave. En+ did not confirm the “proposed estimate” of its energy segment’s earnings.

Rosseti confirmed the “Kommersant” rating, noting that it refers in general to the Rosseti group, but not to PJSC Rosseti. “The issue of paying this tax by the companies of the Rosseti group will be decided by the state,” they noted. Kommersant was told in T Plus that the tax on excess profits would not affect the implementation of their TPP modernization projects.

It is not entirely correct to levy a tax on excess profits from electric grid companies: the revenue of grid organizations is fully regulated, so it is impossible to talk about the emergence of unplanned income, says Sergey Sasim from the Institute for Economics and Regulation of Infrastructure Industries of the National Research University Higher School of Economics. In addition, any excess of actual revenues over the plan is subject to withdrawal as part of the standard tariff setting procedure. “Any tax is part of the grid company’s uncontrollable expenses, so its accrual will result in an increase in tariffs,” he explains.

“Against the background of the latest instructions for the implementation of large infrastructure projects, the declared deficit of investment funds from PJSC Rosseti for their implementation and the refusal to pay dividends to cover the specified deficit, the introduction of an additional tax on excess profits of electric grid organizations looks completely illogical,” Mr. Sasim believes.

According to Matvey Tayts from the Sinara investment bank, the amount of withdrawals does not look critical for the sector as a whole: “In my opinion, exceptions can be made for Rosseti and RusHydro due to the high investment plans of these companies in the coming years.”

Tatyana Dyatel, Polina Smertina