In Moldova, compensation for gas and heat will be provided, depending on the category of energy vulnerability of each consumer.
This is provided for in the draft Regulation on the assignment of categories of energy vulnerability and the procedure for establishing and paying compensation when paying energy bills. The document has been registered with the State Chancellery and will be submitted for public consultations. According to the project, the assignment of energy vulnerability status will be carried out through the online platform compensatii.gov.md (SIVE). Each consumer will be able to independently submit an application on the platform, or do it through registrars (social assistants or librarians within the radius of the territory of residence). The application must indicate the address at which compensation is requested, while registration will be carried out monthly for each type of energy. The applicant must indicate the number of residents who permanently or during the cold season live at the address of the household for which compensation is requested; income of each family member (average value for the last 3 months), regardless of the source of origin (salaries, pensions, social benefits, dividends, business income, foreign money transfers, etc.). Vulnerability categories will be determined at the end of each month, based on data in the SIVE system, depending on the minimum level of family expenses, the total income of family members, energy costs, energy costs during the cold season, etc., with the assignment of a certain coefficient. In general, it is planned to distinguish consumers into 4 categories of energy vulnerability: very high, high, medium, low. At the same time, some households will be given the status of invulnerable consumers: they will include families that own 4 or more apartments, real estate worth more than 10 million lei, whose members have an income of more than 75 thousand lei per month, or if the family voluntarily requests give it that status. Separately, it is envisaged to determine the category of energy vulnerability by an indirect method - for places of consumption that are not registered by applicants in the SIME information system. According to the project, compensation will be provided to energy suppliers for each consumer separately, based on the calculated category of energy vulnerability. Consumer invoices will indicate the total amount of services provided, the category of vulnerability, the method of determining it, and the amount that is payable after recalculation, including compensation. The explanatory note to the draft states that in the period from November 2022 to March 2023, the government plans to compensate citizens on average about 41% of the gas tariff and 56% of the heating tariff. For these purposes, about 5.7 billion lei will be required: 2 billion 072 million lei - to pay compensation for November-December 2022 and 3 billion 655 million lei - for January-March 2023. Calculations are made based on the predicted gas tariff in the amount of 23 lei per cubic meter (9.5 lei per cubic meter will be compensated) and the projected tariff for heat energy at the level of 2594 lei/Gcal (1450 lei/Gcal will be compensated).// 19.09.2022- InfoMarket.
