Học Tiếng Anh qua bài báo 23

UK energy generators face tax raid on soaring profits

Government said to be considering options including a windfall tax to bring down household bills.

Dressed in overalls with “leave it in the ground” scrawled on their backs, climate protesters shovelled coal over the side of a goods train bound for the Drax power station in 2008.

It is now 14 years on from the train “hijack” and government officials are considering their own raid on the North Yorkshire power station – this time on the company’s finances.

The power giant, Britain’s single-biggest source of carbon emissions – thanks to the biomass and coal it burns – has benefited handsomely from the link between electricity prices and soaring gas prices, along with a group of nuclear plants and older solar and windfarm projects.

This windfall – evident in a quadrupling of profits – has thrust Drax and its fellow generators, which are propped up by historic subsidies, into the eye of a gathering storm.

With households and small businesses crushed by soaring bills, the government is considering options to break the link between gas and electricity prices as well as a windfall tax on electricity generators.

The plan could be one of Kwasi Kwarteng’s first acts as chancellor if, as expected, he is promoted from business secretary by the UK’s new prime minister, Liz Truss.

Germany’s decision to impose a windfall tax on electricity generators may embolden ministers to follow suit. Earlier this year, as the government imposed the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) on North Sea oil and gas operators, a similar measure was mooted for electricity generators – but was dismissed as too complex.

A further leaked Treasury analysis claimed gas producers and electricity generators could make £170bn in excess profits over two years. For most companies, precise figures on windfall profits are hard to come by.

But for Drax it is clear that the good times roll. In July, the company said profit before tax had risen to £200m in the first half of the year, up from £52m in the same period a year earlier, bolstered by high electricity prices. It upgraded annual profit forecasts, while landing a deal with National Grid to keep its coal-fired operations open through the winter.

The group’s chief executive, Will Gardiner, saw his total pay package swell more than 30% to £2.7m. In the past 12 months, its stock has risen 56% to 660p, valuing the company at £2.65bn, after peaking at 831p in April.

But the threat of a windfall tax has twice punctured the share rally and it may now face pressure to rip up the contracts for its units which burn wood pellets. Thinktank Ember calculates that from 2012 until 2027, Drax will have collected more than £11bn in government subsidies.

The shape of any potential raid on electricity generators’ profits could prove crucial for Drax and its peers. A simple extension to corporation tax – as applied to the oil giants – could prove most damaging to profits and, critics argue, investor sentiment in green energy.

Instead, the business department is reportedly scrutinising a plan which would see older Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) voluntarily ripped up in favour of Contracts for Difference (CFDs).

ROCs are an anachronism from the early days of green power generation. They were first introduced in 2002, paying renewable energy producers the wholesale market rate plus a subsidy.

The scheme was closed to new entrants in 2017 and replaced with less generous CfDs, which offer electricity plants a flat rate for what they produce over 15 years. That rate is the difference between the “strike price” – an agreed price which reflects the investment in green technology – and the “reference price”, which is a reflection of the wholesale market price for electricity.

If the market price is higher than the strike price, a government entity called the Low Carbon Contracts Company ensures these savings are passed on to consumers. If the market price is lower, the LCCC makes up the shortfall. LCCC data shows that with UK power prices more than tripling in the past year, windfarms have paid back more than £360m.

Under the proposals, those with ROCs would be encouraged to switch to CfDs. The benefit to consumers could be lower bills, and for the company a guaranteed long-term income which could reassure investors.

However, the voluntary scheme could be undermined if companies decide instead to take their chances that gas prices will remain high for years. For those on ROCs with only a few years remaining, it could prove attractive, less so for those with a decade to go. Denmark’s Ørsted held the most ROCs in 2020/21, ahead of Drax, SSE and Germany’s RWE.

Although the energy market as a whole is dominated by a clutch of large players, nearly 60% of the UK onshore wind ROCs market consists of smaller developers, Bernstein analysts estimate.

CÁCH ĐỌC HIỂU MỘT BÀI BÁO BẰNG TIẾNG ANH

Gợi ý cho các em:

Bước 1: Xem thì ở trong câu văn người ta sử dụng là thì gì? Là thì hiện tại đơn? hiện tại hoàn thành,…….? => để chúng ta hiểu được ngữ cảnh.

Bước 2: Tìm ra các từ mới, cụm từ mới,…. mà chúng ta chưa biết => sau đó các em viết chúng xuống.

Bước 3: Tra từ mới đó để biết nghĩa và phát âm của các từ, cụm từ,…..mà các em vừa mới có (các em nên sử dụng từ điển Oxford, Longman hoặc Cambridge).

Bước 4: Tập đặt câu và sử dụng chúng cho các ngữ cảnh thực dụng của các em.

Ứng dụng của bài báo:

UK energy generators face tax raid on soaring profits

Bước 1: Câu trên là thì hiện tại đơn

Bước 2: Các từ và cụm từ là:

• UK energy generator (cụm danh từ): máy phát năng lượng của Anh
• To face (v): đương đầu
• tax raid (cụm danh từ): kiếm tra về thuế
• to soar (v): việc tăng lên
• profit (n): lợi nhuận

Tạm dịch câu như sau:

Các máy phát năng lượng của Anh đối diện với cuộc kiểm tra thuế về việc tăng lên của doanh thu.

Câu tiếp theo:

Government said to be considering options including a windfall tax to bring down household bills.

Bước 1: Câu trên là thì quá khứ đơn

Bước 2: Các từ và cụm từ là:

• government (n): chính phủ
• option (n): sự lựa chọn
• windfall tax (cụm danh từ): thuế về năng lượng gió
• to bring down (cụm động từ):  đem xuống
• household bill (cụm danh từ): hoá đơn chi trả của gia đình

Tạm dịch câu như sau:

Chính phủ đã nói rằng việc xem sét về những lựa chọn bao gồm thuế năng lượng gió để làm giảm xuống cho những hoá đơn chi trả của hộ gia đình.

Câu tiếp theo tương tự nhé.

Nguồn bài báo: The guardian