The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection presented the mechanism for determining compensations: 2 billion lei will be allocated for their payment in the cold season of 2024-2025
The Ministry has prepared a draft government decision, which enshrines the mechanism of calculating compensations in the current heating season, taking into account the normative prices for energy and the minimum level of households' expenses from November 2024 to March 2025. In particular, the draft contains normative prices for the cold season, depending on the type of energy used and the number of household members specified in the application for compensation in cash, as well as the minimum level of household expenditures (depending on a number of parameters: urban/rural, number of household members, capacity constraints of family members, etc.). These parameters will be taken into account when determining the amount of energy compensation paid to applicants from the Energy Vulnerability Reduction Fund. At the same time, the document contains formulas for calculating compensation, depending on household income, energy costs and the ratio of these parameters, as well as increase coefficients, etc. For example, the compensation will amount to 800 lei if the ratio between the monthly total household income (VGL) and the minimum household energy expenditures (MCF) is up to 50%, regardless of the heating source. For consumers who heat their homes with gas or solid fuel, whose income is less than or equal to their expenses, the amount of compensation will be calculated according to a special formula, taking into account the cost of energy in the cold season, the ratio of income and expenses, and the percentage of increase. A separate formula is envisioned for households whose natural gas costs are 100% or higher than their income, from 20% to 100%, etc. Compensations will be provided subject that households consumed monthly at least 250 kWh of electricity or 50 cubic meters of gas or 0.3 gCal of heat energy in the previous heating season. Compensations will be provided individually, in monetary form, on the basis of applications submitted by households, from November 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025. The explanatory note to the draft law says that 2 billion lei will be allocated to provide compensations in accordance with the new mechanism of calculation and payment during the cold season of 2024-2025. For comparison, in the previous heating season, when the amount of compensations was calculated on the basis of the vulnerability category of households and paid in bills, 760 thousand households became beneficiaries, while the total amount of compensations amounted to 2.59 billion lei. The draft is to be approved by the government. //27.11.2024 - InfoMarket.
