
Energy vulnerability or invulnerability category will be determined in 7 steps.
This is provided for by the draft Regulation on the assignment of categories of energy vulnerability and the procedure for establishing and paying compensation for energy bills, which was discussed in a public consultation. The vulnerability category will be assigned by submitting an application on the platform compensatii.gov.md. The application can be registered independently or with the help of social workers or librarians. Families will register on the platform only once a year, but will be able to make changes to the system once a year by submitting a request to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. Seven steps would be required to determine the level of vulnerability, the first of which would be a non-vulnerability test by assessing applicants' monthly income and wealth. The second step would be to establish a minimum level of family spending based on the average monthly consumption expenditures published by the National Bureau of Statistics for the fourth quarter of the previous year. The next step will determine the total monthly family income, which will include all sources of income except for some lump-sum benefits. Next, the income available to pay for energy will be calculated, which will be the difference between the total monthly income and the family's minimum expenditure level. The cost of energy used by the household during the cold season will also be established, and depending on the ratio between it and the income available to pay for energy, a vulnerability category will be assigned. There are envisaged a total of 4 categories of vulnerable consumers (very high, high, medium and low) and 1 category of energy invulnerability. In the absence of the necessary information and documents for verification, the category of energy vulnerability of the consumer is established by the indirect method. The Ministry of Labor said that the compensații.gov.md platform will be launched after the government approves the said provision. At the same time, another government decision will establish the amount of compensations for consumers, taking into account the energy vulnerability category of each family. //04.10.2022 - InfoMarket.