On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the German government has said Berlin is looking to restore a 19% sales tax on gas and heat deliveries starting at the end of the year. If enacted, it will in essence end the current discount rate three months early.

Last October the value-added tax on natural gas was reduced from 9% to 7% to ease pressures on consumers as energy costs were skyrocketing. As originally envisioned, the tax cut was to last until the end of March 2024.

However deputy German government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said that the government had decided to end the discount early due to prices falling back to a more “normal level” more rapidly than expected. At a press conference on Monday, he said that the government is working on creating the legislation to place the change into effect according to Bloomberg.

At the same time, Oliver Olpen, a spokesperson for the nation’s Finance Ministry, noted that the restoration of the original tax rate was expected to increase public-sector tax revenues by about €2.1 billion ($2.2 billion).

Prior to 2022, Germany received about 40% of the natural gas the nation relied upon from Russia. As Russian energy deliveries began to diminish last year, as Western sanctions, maintenance issues, and a sabotage attack on the Nord Stream pipeline all reduced Russian energy supplies to Europe to a negligible quantity, Germany was among the hardest hit.

The German Economy Ministry recently released a report which projected that gas prices in Germany are likely to continue to soar, and remain elevated until at least 2027, if Germany fails to take additional emergency measures.