"New ‘super tax’ to deter energy firm owners from gas profiteering
75% windfall tax aims to dissuade shareholders with lucrative advance gas contracts from cashing out and abandoning customers
Treasury officials have quietly introduced a new “super tax” to deter energy company owners from cashing out lucrative contracts for gas bought in advance before leaving their supply business to go under.
The government quickly pushed through the new laws late last week to counter industry concerns that Stephen Fitzpatrick, the founder of Ovo Energy, could use his almost two-thirds stake in the company to liquidate its long-term gas contracts and exit the supply market with a hefty profit.
Energy industry sources believe this loophole may have already been used by BP, which owned almost a quarter of Pure Planet before pulling the plug on the challenger brand last October. It is understood to have sold the energy it bought in advance, using the profit to pay back loans to BP.
Under the government’s new super-levy, called the public interest business protection tax, a 75% tax will be imposed on any future windfall that an energy company shareholder could hope to make by cashing out gas contracts while leaving millions without a supplier."
https://www.theguardian.com/business...s-profiteering
Fan-*******-tastic - those who were wise to properly hedge risks can get penalised with extra tax, where as those who did not hedge got a taxpayer bailout.
One would have thought that with totally anti-market "price cap" all consumer facing energy companies would have been required to hedge supplies in the first place.
75% windfall tax aims to dissuade shareholders with lucrative advance gas contracts from cashing out and abandoning customers
Treasury officials have quietly introduced a new “super tax” to deter energy company owners from cashing out lucrative contracts for gas bought in advance before leaving their supply business to go under.
The government quickly pushed through the new laws late last week to counter industry concerns that Stephen Fitzpatrick, the founder of Ovo Energy, could use his almost two-thirds stake in the company to liquidate its long-term gas contracts and exit the supply market with a hefty profit.
Energy industry sources believe this loophole may have already been used by BP, which owned almost a quarter of Pure Planet before pulling the plug on the challenger brand last October. It is understood to have sold the energy it bought in advance, using the profit to pay back loans to BP.
Under the government’s new super-levy, called the public interest business protection tax, a 75% tax will be imposed on any future windfall that an energy company shareholder could hope to make by cashing out gas contracts while leaving millions without a supplier."
https://www.theguardian.com/business...s-profiteering
Fan-*******-tastic - those who were wise to properly hedge risks can get penalised with extra tax, where as those who did not hedge got a taxpayer bailout.
One would have thought that with totally anti-market "price cap" all consumer facing energy companies would have been required to hedge supplies in the first place.
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