{"id":24858,"date":"2026-03-23T18:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T17:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ehpa.org\/?p=24858"},"modified":"2026-03-24T09:26:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T08:26:06","slug":"von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ehpa.org\/news-and-resources\/news\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\/","title":{"rendered":"Von der Leyen vows to lower electricity taxes after European Council"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>European leaders called for both immediate and structural action on energy prices on 19 March. The Commission is asked to present a toolbox of targeted temporary measures to address fossil fuel price spikes, as well as urgent measures covering all four components of electricity prices: generation costs; network charges; taxes and levies; carbon pricing.<\/p>\n<p>Member States and the Commission are also called upon to accelerate the Energy Union 2030 agenda &#8211; which refers to ensuring secure, sustainable, competitive, and affordable energy for all Europeans while advancing climate goals &#8211; to enable increased and affordable electrification. Co-legislators are urged to agree on an ambitious grids package in 2026. The European Council will review progress in June.<\/p>\n<p>At the post-Council press conference, Commission President von der Leyen outlined concrete actions across the four electricity price components. Particularly notable for EHPA members &#8211; although how exactly this would be done is not yet clear &#8211; is the Commission&#8217;s commitment to propose lower mandatory tax rates on electricity, ensuring it is taxed less than fossil fuels.<\/p>\n<p>EHPA has <a href=\"https:\/\/ehpa.org\/news-and-resources\/news\/hows-the-electricity-to-gas-price-looking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">long urged action<\/a> on electricity taxes: high electricity taxes relative to gas remain one of the key barriers to heat pump uptake across Europe, and rebalancing at EU level would be a significant step forward. Medium-term measures are likely to form part of the July Emissions Trading System (ETS) review. Central to this is the proposed ETS Investment Booster &#8211; a \u20ac30 billion fund financed through 400 million ETS allowances, targeting decarbonisation projects with guaranteed access for lower-income Member States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>European leaders called for both immediate and structural action on energy prices on 19 March. The Commission is asked to present a toolbox of targeted temporary measures to address fossil fuel price spikes, as well as urgent measures covering all four components of electricity prices: generation costs; network charges; taxes and levies; carbon pricing. Member [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-policy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Von der Leyen vows to lower electricity taxes after European Council - European Heat Pump Association<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ehpa.org\/news-and-resources\/news\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Von der Leyen vows to lower electricity taxes after European Council - European Heat Pump Association\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"European leaders called for both immediate and structural action on energy prices on 19 March. The Commission is asked to present a toolbox of targeted temporary measures to address fossil fuel price spikes, as well as urgent measures covering all four components of electricity prices: generation costs; network charges; taxes and levies; carbon pricing. Member [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ehpa.org\/news-and-resources\/news\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"European Heat Pump Association\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-23T17:39:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-24T08:26:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ehpa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/P-069317_00-01_03-MED-632698.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah Azau\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@helloheatpumps\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@helloheatpumps\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah Azau\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/news-and-resources\\\/news\\\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/news-and-resources\\\/news\\\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sarah Azau\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/31b40b5b49da998f7b683b939b7c4274\"},\"headline\":\"Von der Leyen vows to lower electricity taxes after European Council\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-23T17:39:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-24T08:26:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/news-and-resources\\\/news\\\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":261,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/news-and-resources\\\/news\\\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/P-069317_00-01_03-MED-632698.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/news-and-resources\\\/news\\\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/news-and-resources\\\/news\\\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\\\/\",\"name\":\"Von der Leyen vows to lower electricity taxes after European Council - European Heat Pump Association\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/news-and-resources\\\/news\\\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/news-and-resources\\\/news\\\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/P-069317_00-01_03-MED-632698.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-23T17:39:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-24T08:26:06+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/news-and-resources\\\/news\\\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/news-and-resources\\\/news\\\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/news-and-resources\\\/news\\\/von-der-leyen-vows-to-lower-electricity-taxes-after-european-council\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/P-069317_00-01_03-MED-632698.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ehpa.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/P-069317_00-01_03-MED-632698.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":533,\"caption\":\"European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen at 18-19 March 2026 European Council. 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