The European Commission has approved three State aid schemes in Bulgaria, Germany and Slovenia to give temporary electricity price relief to energy-intensive companies.
The schemes have budgets of €334 million for Bulgaria, €3.8 billion for Germany and €90 million for Slovenia, the EU executive announced on Thursday.
The support will compensate eligible companies for part of their electricity costs over the next three years, with access limited to sectors judged to face a significant risk of relocating outside the EU.
Approval was granted under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework — known as CISAF — adopted on 25 June 2025.
How the schemes will work
Each scheme must keep the reduced electricity price at no less than €50 per megawatt hour (MWh) — a unit used to measure electricity — and cover consumption for a maximum of three years, the Commission said.
Beneficiaries must also invest at least 50% of the aid they receive in new or modernised assets intended to reduce electricity system costs, without increasing fossil fuel use.
Bulgaria’s measure will run from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028, with aid paid through electricity suppliers as a reduction on beneficiaries’ monthly bills.
Germany’s scheme will run from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028, with companies able to apply for payments after the end of each year once electricity consumption and the average wholesale market price are known.
Slovenia’s scheme will also run from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028 and will pay out aid twice a year based on expected electricity consumption.
