An association of gas pipeline operators on Monday set the level tariff at € 0.024/kkWh under legislation passed by the German parliament, which had an expected stipulated a range of 1 to 5 cents.
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The gas tax will raise money to compensate [sic] importers of Russian gas whose contracts with city utilities do not permit them to pass on the costs of surging natural gas prices [to rate payers].
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Habeck said that 12 [gs]importers have applied for help [sic] and would receive 34 billion euros ($34.7 billion), or about 90% of their ["]exceptional["] costs, the dpa news agency reported.

17 Aug, Reuters | 'Pawn' in energy stand-off, Germany's Uniper suffers $12.5 bln [€ 12.3B] loss ...Germany's largest importer of Russian gas needed a 15 billion euro government bailout last month after Russia drastically cut flows, forcing Uniper to buy gas elsewhere [UAE? KSA? USA? CN-TW FORMOSA?!]at much higher prices....

Energy-intensive businesses urged the government to limit the [cost of] the new tax [applied to commercial rate payers]. Steel producers said it would cost them 500 million euros annually, while the VDMA association of mechanical engineering firms -- a pillar of Germany's export-oriented economy -- warned that the tax was "a significant burden" on top of soaring natural gas prices.

The announcement at a hastily convened news conference in Berlin comes a day after Scholz met with hostile protests during a town hall event outside the capital.

Scholz said his government had decided to lower the value-added tax[VAT] on gas from 19% to 7% [!] until the end of March 2024.