The European Commission has approved two support schemes for companies under the State aid Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, in the context of Russia's war against Ukraine.
It has approved a €3.5bn French scheme to support small and medium-sized enterprises and microenterprises facing dramatic increases in electricity prices that can't be passed on to their customers; under this "amortisseur électrique" scheme consisting in direct grants, eligible companies will benefit from a reduction on their electricity bill, corresponding to the difference between their contractual price in 2023 and a reference price, applicable to half of the electricity actually supplied to them each month, with a cap at 90% of their historical consumption. This aid will be granted until 31 December 2023.
In addition, the European Commission has approved a €2bn Austrian scheme to support the energy supplier Wien Energie, through a credit line financed by the city of Vienna, the sole indirect shareholder in the company. The aid will help ensure Wien Energie has sufficient liquidity to secure its trading activities on the energy markets, in a context of high electricity and gas prices since August 2022. Wien Energie has started passing on cost increases to its customers, raising some electricity prices by €12c/kWh.
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