Article 8 of Regulation 2022/1854 does not oppose Bulgaria 5% levy

The Court of Justice (Ninth Chamber) has held that Article 8 of Regulation (UE) 2022/1854 does not oppose Bulgarian legislation requiring electricity producers to pay a monthly contribution of 5% of their revenues from electricity salesEuropa. In its judgment of 22 October 2026 in Case C-327/25 VETS Svoge, given on a reference from the Varhoven administrativen sad, the Court rules that the levy, which serves to finance a public entity responsible for the financial stability of the energy sector and the security of the national electricity grid, the FSESEuropa, coexists with the market-revenue cap imposed by that regulationEuropa. The contribution is neither the Article 6(1) cap nor one of the Article 8(1) crisis measuresEuropa: its purpose is foreign to the objective pursued by that regulationEuropa and its personal scope in no way corresponds to that of the measures envisaged by Article 8Europa, so it falls outside the scope of Regulation 2022/1854 altogetherEuropa. In any event, Articles 6 to 8 of the regulation applied only from 1 December 2022 to 30 June 2023Europa, so Article 8 cannot oppose the levy for periods outside that windowEuropa.

The same answer disposes of the calculation base. Article 8, including the non-discrimination condition in Article 8(2)(a), does not oppose a national rule under which the monthly 5% contribution is computed and collected on all revenues from electricity sales made on national territoryEuropa. Member States remain competent to impose compulsory levies financing public bodies entrusted with public-interest missionsEuropa, and nothing indicates that such a levy impairs the effectiveness of Regulation 2022/1854 or otherwise offends Union law.

The dispute concerns VETS Svoge EOOD, owner of five hydroelectric plants, which owed 86,828.39 BGN (about 44,395 euros) in 5% contributions for January and February 2024. The company had computed the 5% base after deducting the earmarked contributions it had paid under the transitional provisions of the 2022 finance-application law and of the 2023 finance law. By an act of 22 April 2024 the authority fixed the company total debt at 55,671.89 BGN (about 28,465 euros), comprising 41,971.86 BGN (about 21,460 euros) of principal and 13,700.03 BGN (about 7,005 euros) of late-payment interest for 1 August 2021 to 22 April 2024. The Administrativen sad Sofia-grad dismissed the company challenge on 9 October 2024, holding that the 5% levy and the earmarked contributions serve different purposes under different statutes and that no transitional provision amended Article 36f of the Zakon za energetikata or its calculation method.

The remainder of the reference failed on admissibility. The third question, invoking the European Climate Law, the renewables directive and the electricity market price rules, was declared inadmissibleEuropa: beyond general assertions that the levy discourages renewable generation, the referring court stated no reasons and no link between those instruments and the national levyEuropa. The fourth question met the same fate in so far as it relied on Article 63 TFEUEuropa. As for Article 17 of the Charter, the Court declared itself without jurisdictionEuropa: the levy does not implement Union law within the meaning of Article 51(1) of the CharterEuropa, and the Charter alone cannot found jurisdictionEuropa.

The legal basis is Article 8 of Regulation (UE) 2022/1854, Articles 2 and 4 of Regulation (UE) 2021/1119 read with Article 191(2) TFEU, Article 3 of Directive (UE) 2018/2001, Articles 3 and 10 of Regulation (UE) 2019/943 read with Article 5 of Directive (UE) 2019/944, Article 63 TFEU, Articles 17 and 51(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and Article 36f of the Zakon za energetikata.