The government approved a social assistance package totaling 1.6 billion lei to pay compensations for gas and heat to all consumers, as well as benefits for the poor during the cold season.
This was announced by Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, noting that, according to the approved amendments to the budget and other laws, gas compensations will be paid to all household consumers within 5 months, depending on the volumes consumed. In particular, it is planned that for the first 50 cubic meters of gas, consumers will pay 6.8 lei per cubic meter of gas, and for volumes from 50 to 150 cubic meters - 7.9 lei per cubic meter, and the difference is compensated for from the state budget. Thus, for the first 50 cubic meters the government will compensate 4.3 lei from the gas tariff, and from 50 to 150 cubic meters - 3.2 lei from the tariff for 1 cubic meter of gas. In addition, the authorities partially compensate for the payment for heat energy. So when consuming the first gigacalorie, they are compensated for 2/3 of the increased cost. The maximum compensation for heating will amount to 450 lei per month. In addition, it was decided to increase from 500 to 700 lei the amount of benefits paid to low-income families during the cold season. It is expected that, at the same time, due to the expansion of the number of beneficiaries, the number of such families receiving these benefits will increase by 88 thousand compared to last year, and will exceed 300 thousand. Natalia Gavrilita stressed that in general, the package of social assistance for the payment of benefits and compensations for 5 months - by March 2022 it will amount to 1.6 billion lei. In particular, the government will allocate 770 million lei for compensation in connection with the increase in the tariff for natural gas, 340 million lei for compensating the tariff for heat, and 523 million lei for the payment of benefits to the poor during the cold season. // 10.11.2021 — InfoMarket.
