Stockpiling fee of natural gas

The Natural Gas Act regulates issues related to the stockpiling fees for the strategic stocks of gas.

The Minister of Climate establishes the rates of the stockpiling fees of the strategic stocks of gas based on a proposal of the Estonian Stockpiling Agency. The current rate of the stockpiling fee is 0.73 euros per megawatt-hour of consumed natural gas (Regulation No. 87 of the Minister of Climate of 19.12.2024) Value added tax is added to the stockpiling fee rate.

The stockpiling fee rate, expressed in euros per megawatt-hour of gas sold, is published one month at the latest before taking effect.

The basis for enacting the rate of the stockpiling fee is the estimated cost required to manage the strategic stocks of gas and the jetty and infrastructure of the liquefied natural gas terminal from 1 May to 30 April, and the quantity of gas that is estimated to be consumed in the gas system of Estonia in that period.

The rate of the stockpiling fee may be amended in accordance with the actual cost of managing the stocks and the quantity of gas sold. The amendment must be made if the management costs cannot be covered from the stockpiling fees that have been received and that are estimated to be received based on the applicable rate of the payment. The amended rate takes effect in the month that follows the month during which it was enacted.

The lower limit of the stockpiling fee is 0.1 euros and the upper limit 2.5 euros per megawatt-hour of gas sold to end consumers.

The gas stockpiling fees cover the costs of managing the strategic gas stocks and the LNG infrastructure of the Port of Pakrineeme (some of the components of the costs come into effect only on 1 July 2024):

1. costs related to maintaining the strategic stocks of gas
2. costs of insuring the strategic stocks of gas as well as the jetty and infrastructure of the LNG terminal
3. costs of verifying the quantity of the strategic stocks of gas and whether they meet the requirements
4. operating costs of the manager of the strategic stocks of gas and the jetty and infrastructure of the LNG terminal
5. financial costs of the manager of the strategic stocks of gas and the jetty and infrastructure of the LNG terminal
6. any other costs entailed by compliance with the obligation to maintain the strategic stocks of natural gas and manage the jetty and infrastructure of the LNG terminal

The gas stockpiling fee is paid by the consumer and the obligation to pay the stockpiling fee arises when the consumer consumes gas. stockpiling fees are collected from consumers by the network operator, who, in turn, passes the collected stockpiling fees on to the Estonian Stockpiling Agency.

The accounting period for the stockpiling fee is a calendar month. At the latest by the 15th day of the month, the network operator presents information on quantities of gas relayed to consumers in the previous calendar month to the Estonian Stockpiling Agency via the electronic reporting system. The Estonian Stockpiling Agency issues an invoice for the stockpiling fee to the network operator based on this information, which must be paid by the 20th day of the month at the latest. In order to register as a user of the reporting system of fuel stocks, an application must be submitted to the Estonian Stockpiling Agency.

The obligation to pay the stockpiling fee arises on the consumption of gas, or in other words, the stockpiling fee is collected from the end consumer and it is reflected as a separate line item on the invoice issued by the network operator to the client.