Carsten Haunstrup Møller's house wind turbine produced 1.22 kilowatts too much green electricity over a period of several years. The excess output left him with a back-charge of just over 9,000 kroner and removed him from the favourable settlement scheme he had been part of.
The case goes before a parliamentary consultation today, where the tax minister must take a position on whether the treatment was fair. Last year Skattestyrelsen checked private owners of renewable energy installations and their electricity production. Nearly 2,000 other installation owners, like Carsten Møller, turned out to have received too large tax discounts.
"It's the most expensive kilowatt I've ever both produced and consumed. The punishment in relation to the violations is completely out of proportion," Carsten Haunstrup Møller said, according to DR. "We solar or wind turbine owners haven't had technical knowledge about our installations. We've just in good faith let ourselves be inspired to become producers of green energy."
Some 85,000 private solar installations and wind turbines were registered in the special net settlement scheme in 2010-2012. It let owners pay electricity tax only on their annual net consumption, the difference between the power they use and the power they deliver to the grid. The requirement at the time was a household installation with a total effect of no more than 6 kilowatts.
Mathilde Hjort Bressum, climate, energy and supply spokesperson for Venstre, said she was provoked by the case of Nils-Jørn from Lemvig, who was charged 10,000 kroner in back payment for producing a little too much green energy. "It is mildly speaking very unfair," she said. She wants the minister to guarantee that the affected citizens return to the net settlement scheme they were removed from.
Tax and growth minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt referred to the consultation at 9.30, DR reported. Carsten Møller said he is optimistic and hopes the back-charges will be repaid.