The Riigikogu passed an Act to ensure the island operation capability service
At today’s sitting, the Riigikogu passed two Acts and concluded the second reading of two Bills.
The Riigikogu passed the Act on Amendments to the Electricity Market Act (555 SE), initiated by the Government. It creates a regulation for the service of ensuring island operation capability which will enable the maintenance of the required amount of electricity generation capacity from 2026 in order to ensure the stability of the Estonian electricity system. The service of ensuring island operation capability will ensure Estonia’s ability to manage independently in a situation where the country is isolated from the electricity system of the Baltic countries or continental Europe.
The system operator, i.e. the transmission system operator Elering, will analyse and assesses whether there is enough generating capacity available at any given time to manage in a situation of island operation. According to the explanatory memorandum, Elering has estimated that the minimum need for controllable capacities in the Estonian electricity system is about 1,000 MW.
In order to ensure the service of ensuring island operation capability, Elering will carry out a technology-neutral public procurement, the main condition of which will be that the generation undertaking must be able to provide generation capacity for 10 consecutive days. According to the explanatory memorandum, the estimated cost of procuring the service of ensuring island operation capability will be in the order of EUR 34 million per year.
In addition, the Act amends the rules for participation in demand response and for electricity storage in order to transpose a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council. Provisions are included in the Act to reduce the costs of operating electricity storage by eliminating double taxation, to specify the legal framework for demand response and the requirements for electricity bills and to introduce the principle of net metering during the trading period in the case of final customers.
Martin Helme from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group, Aleksei Jevgrafov from the Centre Party Group, Mart Maastik from Isamaa Parliamentary Group and Yoko Alender from the Reform Party Parliamentary Group took the floor during the debate. Jaak Aab made a speech on behalf of the Social Democratic Party Group.
51 members of the Riigikogu supported the passing of the Act and 27 voted against.
The Riigikogu also passed the Act on Amendments to the Emergency Act (589 SE), initiated by the Government. According to it, if the data or equipment essential for the operation of the service of a critical entity are located in a foreign country, the entity must ensure connection through at least two technologically different electronic communications services in order to reduce the risk of interruptions and ensure continuity of the service.
The Act also provides that, in the future, instead of the Information System Authority, the authority organising the continuity of the relevant service will exercise supervision over the information systems of a critical entity that is located in a foreign country within the framework of the supervision exercised over critical entities.
Lauri Läänemets from the Social Democratic Party Group and Vladimir Arhipov from the Centre Party Group took the floor during the debate.
70 members of the Riigikogu were in favour of passing the Act.
Two Bills passed the second reading
The Bill on Amendments to the Unemployment Insurance Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (519 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the second reading. According to it, the payment of unemployment allowance will be terminated. In the future, in the event of job loss, a registered unemployed person will be paid either income-based unemployment insurance benefit or the new basic rate unemployment insurance benefit created by the bill. The current unemployment insurance benefit will be renamed income-based unemployment insurance benefit and the conditions for receiving it will not be changed.
Basic rate unemployment insurance benefit will be granted to a person who has worked for at least eight months during the 36 months preceding their registration as unemployed. The benefit will be paid for up to 180 days and its amount will be 50 percent of the minimum remuneration in the previous calendar year – this year the benefit would therefore be EUR 374.5 per month. People who do not meet the requirements for the benefit will be able to apply for a subsistence benefit from their local government.
According to the forecast, the implementation of the Act will increase costs by EUR 2.3 million in 2026, because the unemployment allowances granted before 2026 and basic rate unemployment insurance benefits granted under the new system will be paid at the same time. In 2027 and 2028, there will be cost savings of around EUR 23.2 million and around EUR 25.3 million, respectively. The amendments are scheduled to enter into force on 1 January 2026.
In addition, the Bill is intended to solve the problem raised by the Chancellor of Justice that a student up to the age of 24 living separately from their family can be paid subsistence benefit only in the case when their family is granted subsistence benefit in the previous or current month. The bill will create the possibility to exceptionally pay subsistence benefit to a pupil or student up to the age of 24 who lives separately from their family even if their family has not been awarded a subsistence benefit but the pupil’s or student’s relations with their family members have broken or the parents of the pupil or student lack the ability to support their child.
The Social Affairs Committee submitted a motion to amend the Bill to bring the Work Ability Allowance Act into line with the Constitution. Last June, the Riigikogu supported the relevant proposal by the Chancellor of Justice and the committee was tasked with initiating a Bill to bring the Work Ability Allowance Act into line with the Constitution.
A motion to amend will add to the exceptions for calculating the amount of work ability allowance the possibility of including a situation where, in one calendar month, a person is paid both the previous month’s remuneration and, upon termination of the employment contract or service relationship, the remuneration earned in the same month which would normally have been paid in the following month. A person can apply for a recalculation of work ability allowance if they prove to the Unemployment Insurance Fund that their income exceeds 90 times the daily rate because, in one calendar month, they have been paid both the previous month’s remuneration and, due to the termination of their employment contract, the remuneration earned in the same month but not yet paid. For a person’s work ability allowance to be recalculated, they will have to submit to the Unemployment Insurance Fund an application and a certificate from the employer showing the remunerations received and the type of remunerations, and an extract from the employment contract showing the agreed time of receipt of remuneration.
Andrei Korobeinik, Vladimir Arhipov, Aleksandr Tšaplõgin, Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart and Vadim Belobrovtsev from the Centre Party Group, Lauri Läänemets from the Social Democratic Party Group, Riina Solman from Isamaa Parliamentary Group and Signe Riisalo from the Reform Party Parliamentary Group took the floor during the debate.
The Centre Party Parliamentary Group and the Social Democratic Party Parliamentary Group moved to suspend the second reading of the Bill, but the plenary did not support the motion. 24 members of the Riigikogu supported suspension of the deliberation but 49 were against.
The Bill on Amendments to the Electricity Market Act (556 SE), initiated by the Government, also passed the second reading. It will change the concept of the charge for connection to the network. Under the Bill, half of the connection costs of the producers who wish to connect to the existing electricity network will be covered by electricity consumers and the other half by those connecting to the network, and a fixed price list will be established separately for those connecting to the network. According to the explanatory memorandum, this will allow potential producers and consumers to better predict their costs relating to connecting to the electricity network. In places where there is no existing electricity network, the cost-based connection charge will continue to apply.
Second, the Bill will expand the scope of the development obligation for Elering, as well as for other electricity network operators, which will allow, in particular, investments to be made in the transmission network in order to meet the renewable electricity target set by the Estonian state for 2030.
In order to facilitate optimal network use, the provisions relating to the application of the network under-utilisation charge will be specified and, in certain cases, modifications to a previously requested electricity generation technology will be allowed where this leads to a more efficient use of the electricity network. The Economic Affairs Committee made an amendment to the text of the Bill, according to which, in the future it, will be permitted to change the technology if this does not increase generation-oriented capacity and the new electricity generation technology is based on fuel combustion, hydrogen, or storage.
The committee also made an amendment to the bill for the second reading which would eliminate the length restriction that had previously applied to the construction of a direct line. The explanation points out that the investor will make a final decision on the construction of a direct line on the basis of commercial considerations.
The committee also made an amendment according to which the producer will have to use at least 95 percent of the generation capacity specified in the connection contract instead of the previous 100 percent in order to avoid underutilization charge. According to the explanatory memorandum, flexibility will be provided because achieving 100 percent contracted capacity is difficult for producers. The amendment will reduce undue risk for producers but will still require near-maximum utilization of generation capacity.
Rain Epler, Mart Helme, Evelin Poolamets and Anti Poolamets from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group, Vladimir Arhipov and Aleksei Jevgrafov from the Centre Party Group, Urmas Reinsalu from Isamaa Parliamentary Group, Anti Allas from the Social Democratic Party Group and Mario Kadastik and Annely Akkermann from the Reform Party Parliamentary Group took the floor during the debate.
The Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group, the Centre Party Group and Isamaa Parliamentary Group moved to suspend the second reading of the Bill, but the Riigikogu did not support the motion. 17 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion and 44 voted against.
The second reading of a Bill was suspended
On the motion of the Economic Affairs Committee, the Riigikogu suspended the second reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Planning Act and Other Acts (acceleration of the deployment of renewable energy) (541 SE), initiated by the Government. The purpose of the bill is to promote the deployment of renewable energy.
The amendments are intended to facilitate the processing of national designated spatial plans and municipal designated spatial plans planning wind farms and to ensure legal clarity in this process. To this end, the current provisions and procedural rules for the transfer of the funding of the creation of designated spatial plans will be specified. The procedural provisions concerning cooperation and invitation to participate as regards national designated spatial plans, including the initial positions for pre-selecting a location and the strategic environmental assessment programme, will also be amended.
The Bill will also specify the provisions on the payment of the charge for the production of electricity from wind energy in order to ensure legal clarity and the payment of the charge and the distribution thereof to residents at a fair rate and to give local governments greater flexibility in deciding on the details of the payment of the charge. To this end, it will specify the commencement of the charge for the production of electricity from wind energy which will be the time of the commencement of the construction of the wind power plant and the production of electricity from wind energy.
An interim payment period will be established for the charge for the production of electricity from wind energy. The interim payment period will be the period when a wind power plant is already producing electricity from wind energy, but the wind power plant does not yet have a permit for use. During the new charge period, the charge will be paid in the amount of 70 per cent of the charge for the production of electricity from wind energy. The provisions on the fees paid by municipalities to residents will also be specified, taking into account issues that have arisen in practice. The bill will untie the establishment of local government rates from the beginning of the fiscal year. In the future, the rate will enter into force six months after adoption.
For the second reading, an amendment was introduced to the bill to repeal the requirement for resolutions to approve the detailed solutions for municipal designated spatial plans and amendments to the Electricity Market Act were introduced to adjust the regulation on renewable energy reverse auctions.
Evelin Poolamets and Rain Epler from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group, Urmas Reinsalu from Isamaa Parliamentary Group, Mario Kadastik from the Reform Party Group, Marek Reinaas from Estonia 200 Parliamentary Group and Aleksandr Tšaplõgin from the Centre Party Group took the floor during the debate. Non-attached Member of the Riigikogu Jaak Aab also took the floor.
A Bill passed the first reading
The Bill on Amendments to the State Secrets and Classified Information of Foreign States Act, the Public Procurement Act and the State Fees Act (623 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the first reading in the Riigikogu. Its main objective is to update the State Secrets and Classified Information of Foreign States Act so that applying for Facility Security Clearances would be more flexible than before.
The bill will improve the quality and consistency of the assessment of the trustworthiness and reliability of legal entities and the authorisation to handle state secrets. The explanatory memorandum notes that, in the changed security situation, allied countries are expecting ever closer scrutiny of Estonia’s legal entities and supply chains so that our credibility would be ensured. Therefore, a clear and effective legal framework must support the competitiveness of Estonian economic operators abroad.
The aim of the Bill is to establish a regulation that would prevent Estonian economic operators from perceiving the requirements regarding the handling of classified information as an inconvenient obligation and would give them the desire and motivation to meet the conditions set out.
Two Bills were dropped from legislative proceedings
The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Alcohol, Tobacco, Fuel and Electricity Excise Duty Act and the Value-Added Tax Act (594 SE), initiated by the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group. It was intended to reduce the excise duty rates for petrol, diesel, gas, and fuel oil to the European Union minimum rates. According to the bill, the new reduced VAT rate would have been set at five percent instead of the current nine percent, and fuels subject to excise duty would have been included in the list of goods subject to reduced VAT rates.
Martin Helme from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group and Vladimir Arhipov from the Centre Party Group took the floor during the debate.
The Finance Committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 45 members of the Riigikogu supported rejection and 10 voted against.
The Riigikogu rejected the Bill on the Repeal of the Security Tax Act (595 SE), initiated by the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group. It was intended to repeal the security tax which, in the opinion of the initiators, is socially unjust and creates a disproportionate burden on the most vulnerable groups in society.
Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart from the Centre Party Group took the floor during the debate.
The Finance Committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 39 members of the Riigikogu voted for rejection and nine were against it.
The first reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Value-Added Tax Act (596 SE), initiated by the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group, and the Bill on Amendments to the Income Tax Act (597 SE), initiated by the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group, was cancelled at today’s sitting due to the absence of the presenters.
After the plenary sitting, members of the Riigikogu are planning to form the Estonia-Indonesia Parliamentary Friendship Group on the initiative of Member of the Riigikogu Peeter Ernits.
The sitting ended at 10.03 p.m.
Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)
The video recording will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.
Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
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