On 29 January 2022, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted a proposal of the Act to mitigate the consequences of rising energy prices in the economy and agriculture as one of the measures to alleviate the consequences suffered by natural and legal persons due to high energy prices. It foreshadows financial assistance to the economy to be paid in a lump sum to beneficiaries by 20 April 2022. The amount of the financial assistance will depend on the level of revenues and sales and the share of the cost of energy in revenues. The financial assistance scheme is subject to approval by the European Commission and will therefore be published at a later date, with an expected minimum financial assistance amount of 50 euros and a maximum of around 2 million euros. The amount of financial assistance will not exceed 60 % of the damage suffered by the beneficiary as a result of the increase in energy prices.
Legal and natural persons who meet all the conditions set out below will be eligible for financial assistance:
- they have been carrying out an economic activity in the Republic of Slovenia since at least 1 December 2021,
- they have at least five employees,
- they have not experienced difficulties in the 2019 financial year,
- the the cost of energy represented at least 5 per cent of their revenue in 2019 and at the same time at least EUR 10,000 of their costs for this purpose,
- their energy costs will increase by more than 30% this year compared to last year.
The deadline for submitting the declaration for financial assistance to the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia via the information system is 31 March 2022.
The proposed act also stipulates that if the beneficiary is found to have received an overpayment of financial assistance as a result of a control by the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, he/she will be obliged to repay the overpaid part by 31 January 2023.
In addition to the proposal of the Act to mitigate the consequences of rising energy prices in the economy and agriculture, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia has adopted, in the context of the above-mentioned measures, (i) a proposal of the Act on emergency measures to mitigate the effects of the impact of high energy prices, which focuses, inter alia, on improving the social security of vulnerable groups through the payment of a one-off security allowance and on the equalisation of the rights of all household consumers of natural gas; and (ii) two excise duty regulations which reduced excise duties and are applicable as from 1 February 2022.
