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Energy and climate hand-in-hand: Financing RES-E support with carbon revenues

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  • Verde, Stefano F.
  • Pazienza, Maria Grazia

Abstract

In Italy, the cost of support for renewable electricity (RES-E) is largely recovered through the “A3 surcharge”, which weighs heavily on electricity bills. Using household survey data, we show the A3 surcharge is markedly regressive. Carbon taxation in the non-ETS sector is envisaged as a means to reduce CO2 emissions cost-effectively and generate revenue to lower the A3 surcharge. A non-ETS carbon tax would be less regressive than the A3 surcharge and its cost would be more evenly distributed across households. We calculate the revenue of a €20/tCO2 non-ETS carbon tax would have allowed a cut in the A3 surcharge of about 68% in 2011, and 39% in 2012. The impact of the carbon tax plus the reduced A3 surcharge would have been less regressive, but the cost higher for most households. The restrictions imposed in the simulations mean the results are only appropriate to render first-round effects of the reform.

Suggested Citation

  • Verde, Stefano F. & Pazienza, Maria Grazia, 2016. "Energy and climate hand-in-hand: Financing RES-E support with carbon revenues," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 234-244.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:88:y:2016:i:c:p:234-244
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2015.10.013
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    Cited by:

    1. Roberta Distante & Elena Verdolini & Massimo Tavoni, 2016. "Distributional and Welfare Impacts of Renewable Subsidies in Italy," Working Papers 2016.36, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    2. Teixidó, Jordi J. & Verde, Stefano F., 2017. "Is the Gasoline Tax Regressive in the Twenty-First Century? Taking Wealth into Account," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 109-125.
    3. Winter, Simon & Schlesewsky, Lisa, 2019. "The German feed-in tariff revisited - an empirical investigation on its distributional effects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 344-356.
    4. Lekavičius, V. & Bobinaitė, V. & Galinis, A. & Pažėraitė, A., 2020. "Distributional impacts of investment subsidies for residential energy technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    5. Marcantonini, Claudio & Valero, Vanessa, 2017. "Renewable energy and CO2 abatement in Italy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 600-613.
    6. Adamczyk, Janusz & Dylewski, Robert, 2017. "The impact of thermal insulation investments on sustainability in the construction sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 421-429.
    7. Köksal, Emin & Ardıyok, Şahin, 2018. "Regulatory and market disharmony in the Turkish electricity industry," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 90-98.

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