The government's so-called "electricity package," proposed as part of next year's budget plan, is intended to help households, not companies, Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä (Cen) said during an interview on the morning news show Ylen Aamu.
On Thursday, the government announced plans to help people deal with the current energy crisis by cutting the rate of VAT on power bills from 24 percent to 10 percent, and introducing tax breaks to help with electricity bills, among other things.
According to Lintilä, the minister responsible for energy issues, the government explored several ways to support households. He told Yle, however, that there was no single right model.
The focus this time was to relieve the pressure on low-income earners, according to the minister.
The entire electricity subsidy package will cost the state an estimated 800 million euros in lost revenue. For electricity users, the VAT rate will drop from 24 percent to 10 percent from December through April.
Lintilä added that it would be utterly irresponsible if electricity companies did not deduct the tax discount from users and kept it for themselves instead - especially considering the rate at which prices are expected to rise in the next months.
"Our starting point was to help people, not companies," he said.
Users can monitor whether companies have applied the discount by checking the tax rate on their electricity bill.