Updated March 07, 2023
The"Gas and electricity"emergency assistance scheme introduced by decree no. 2022-967 dated July 1, 2022 is designed to support companies affected by rising gas and electricity prices. This assistance will continue until December 31, 2023. The amount of assistance depends on the company's situation and sector of activity.
Beneficiaries - Criteria :
In order to provide more effective support for the companies affected, the eligibility criteria have been simplified by Decree no. 2022-1575, published on December 16, 2022, for expenditure from September 2022 onwards.
This system now applies to :
- Companies created before December1, 2021;
- who are French tax residents;
- whose main activity is not the production of electricity or heat, or credit and/or financial institutions;
- who are not in safeguard, receivership or compulsory liquidation proceedings;
- who have no outstanding tax or social security debts at December 31, 2021 ;
- whose energy expenditure during the application period represents more than 3% of its sales in 2021 or 6% of its sales in thefirst half of 2022;
- have experienced an increase of at least 50% in the price of energy during at least one month of the eligible period, compared with the average price paid in 2021.
For companies belonging to a group, aid ceilings will be assessed at group level. Compliance with eligibility criteria must now be verified and calculated by a chartered accountant or statutory auditor. with the exception of those which have been settled or are covered by a settlement plan at the date of submission of the application. Tax debts less than or equal to a total of €1,500 are not taken into account, nor are debts whose existence or amount is the subject of litigation on April 1, 2022, for which a final decision has not yet been reached.
Amount of assistance :
New criteria apply from September-October 2022.
The amount of this aid varies according to the company's situation:
TRANCHE 1 :
Aid of up to €4 million for companies meeting the above criteria but not eligible for TRANCHE 2 or TRANCHE 3:
assistance equal to 50% of the difference between the 2021 bill plus 50% and the 2022 billup to a maximum of 4 million euros.
TRANCHE 2 :
Aid of up to €50 million for companies meeting the above criteria AND whose EBITDA is negative or positive but has fallen by 40%:
assistance equal to65% of the difference between the 2021 bill plus 50% and the 2022 billup to a maximum of 50 million euros.
A ceiling applies:
- Gas and electricity" EBITDA over the eligible period is positive: aid capped if the sum of "gas and electricity" EBITDA and the amount of aid is greater than 70% of the amount of "gas and electricity "over the same period in 2021.
- EBITDA "gas and electricity" over the eligible period is negative: aid capped if the sum of EBITDA "gas and electricity" and the aid amount becomes a positive number.
TRANCHE 3 :
Aid of up to €150 million for companies meeting the above criteria AND generating more than 50% of their sales in one or more sectors exposed to the risk of carbon leakage.
assistance equal to 80% of the difference between the 2021 invoice plus 50% and the 2022 invoiceup to a maximum of 150 million euros.
The same ceiling applies as for TRANCHE 2.
Ceiling = (EBITDA 2021 x 70%) - EBITDA of eligible period
Ceiling = mathematical opposite of EBITDA for the eligible period
List of sectors: Appendix 1 of Decree no. 2022-967: Decree no. 2022-1575 of December 16, 2022 amending Decree no. 2022-967 of July 1, 2022[...
Eligible operations :
The company must log on to its professional space (impot.gouv) to apply for assistance according to the established timetable (Cf. infographic) and the following path:
Secure messaging > "Write" the reason for contact > "I am applying for assistance" in "General requests / I am applying for gas/electricity assistance".
