German Emissions Trading Authority

Submit application

Electricity price compensation is a state aid available to a limited number of eligible applicants. These are companies for which there is a considerable risk of carbon leakage (also called indirect carbon leakage, CL) due to high electricity consumption in their production processes.

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Current notice

We are currently unable to make any concrete statements on the future structure and timetable for future electricity price compensation, which relate to the adjustments to the legal basis currently applicable in Germany (see "Submitting an application"). As long as no new version of the SPK aid directive has been published in the Federal Gazette, the current regulation will apply. We will inform you as soon as possible on our website and in our newsletter.

Online information event on 17/04/2024

Please note our online event via Webex on electricity price compensation on 17/04/2023.

We will publish the program at the beginning of April. You will find the link to the Webex broadcast on our event page about a week before the event.

Apply for a reference number

If you would like to submit an application as a company for the first time for the 2023 billing year, it is necessary to apply to us, the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt), in advance for a reference number for your company and an installation reference number for each installation.

If you already use a reference number for your company and wish to submit an application for a new installation, it is necessary to apply for a corresponding installation reference number. Please send us your application for a reference number informally via the Virtual Post Office (VPS).

Please refer to our information on the binding electronic signature.

26/03/2024

Submit Applications

State aid applications can be submitted retrospectively for an expired calendar year since the State aid aims to offset part of the previous year’s indirect CO2 costs.

Applications must include a certificate from an auditor or a certified accountant confirming factual information.

Applications must be submitted through the Virtual Post Office (VPS) using a qualified electronic signature. Please refer to our ‘Electronic communication’ page.

Guidelines for preparing applications

The Guidelines for Applicants compiled by DEHSt are available for download and can be used when applying for State aid to offset the costs attached to indirect CO2, generation (the State aid is also referred to as electricity price compensation). Some electricity price compensation regulations have changed at the beginning of the fourth trading period following the EU Commission's new guidelines and the newly produced German SPK aid directive. Furthermore, in February 2023, an update introduced Chapter 3.2 on the provision of environmental services which was added to the Guidelines.

We also recommend that you read the Guidelines for auditors and certified accountants on reviewing State aid applications for electricity price compensation (indirect CO2 costs) in Germany. Please also refer to our FAQs on the topic of ecological reward.

19/02/2024

Check Applications – Auditor

The aid application must contain a certificate from an auditor or certified accountant confirming that the information in the aid application is factually correct in accordance with No. 6.1(3) of the SPK Aid Directive. Our guidelines for auditors provide instructions on how to properly check the applications to be able to issue the certificate. Applications must be submitted through the Virtual Post Office (VPS) using a qualified electronic signature.

19/02/2024

Electronic Application

The FMS (Form Management System) acquisition software is available for you to use for your application.

We provide you with an FMS manual to guide you through using the software, and we also offer the ‘XSD’, the schema of the XML file and the catalogues used for your information. The schema of the XML file enables seamless importation of relevant data that you already hold in your own databases or software programmes into DEHSt's FMS using a data interface.

19/02/2024

Eligible Sectors

Electricity price compensation is State aid for a limited group of eligible applicants. These are companies facing a significant risk of carbon leakage due to their production processes characterised by high electricity consumption and referred to as indirect carbon leakage (CL). However, this risk is not analysed individually. The State Aid Guidelines (Annex I) of the European Commission defines which sectors and subsectors are particularly at risk and therefore eligible for aid.

The eligibility of a company to apply is determined by the products manufactured, however, the allocation of a company to a specific economic sector is not critical. An application for State aid can only be made for products that are allocated to one of the sectors or subsectors listed, but it does not extend to further processing into products that are not eligible for aid.

List of Eligible Sectors
Sectors according to NACE-Code Revision 2 (2010)Description
1411Manufacture of leather clothes
1711Manufacture of pulp
1712Manufacture of paper and paperboard
1920Manufacture of refined petroleum products
2011 (Parts)

Parts of the sector Manufacture of industrial gases

20111150 Hydrogen

20111290 Inorganic oxygen compounds of non-metals

2013Manufacture of other inorganic basic chemicals
2016 (Part)

Part of the sector Manufacture of plastics in primary forms

20164015 Polyethylene glycols and other polyether alcohols, in primary forms

2314 (Parts)

Parts of the sector Manufacture of glass fibres

23141210 Glass fibre mats

23141230 Glass fibre voiles

2410Manufacture of basic iron and steel and of ferro-alloys
2442Aluminium production
2443Lead, zinc and tin production
2444Copper production
2445Other non-ferrous metal production
2451Casting of iron

19/02/2024

Assistance

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