Over 33 thousand citizens applied for energy compensation in December

Chisinau, Dec. 27 /MOLDPRES/- More than 33 thousand citizens applied for energy compensations in December. Their files will be examined by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection in the next few days, after which the applicants will be notified if they qualify for the compensation.

The applications submitted in December are in addition to the more than 703,000 applications for compensation in November.

The official said that a change that was operated in December concerns the fact that families in which there are severely disabled people will receive energy compensation, even if their income is high. "In November we had about 120 families who have children with severe disabilities, in most cases, and their incomes were higher and they did not qualify for compensation. We reviewed the information and their applications and it was our understanding that it is clear that a higher income in a family where there is a severely disabled child does not mean that that higher income is available to pay for energy. So, a change for December is that regardless of the household income, if there is a severely disabled person in that family, that household will receive compensation, as a sign of solidarity of all of us towards the situation of families in the Republic of Moldova that have people, especially children with severe disabilities," Buzu explained.

He said that in December compensation will be increased in particular for citizens for whom gas is the main source of heating, as the gas tariff has increased. Thus, the minimum threshold of compensation will rise from 300 lei in November to 500 lei in December, while the maximum threshold will increase from 800 lei to one thousand lei.

The compensation payments for December will be made starting January 10, and notifications and information on the amount of compensation will be available from January 10 too.

The compensation will be available at post offices or on personal card, depending on the option selected by the beneficiary.

The Government is offering energy compensation to vulnerable households for the third year in a row. Consumers are eligible for compensation if they heat their household using natural gas, heat, electricity or solid fuel. Compensations are offered for the cold season, which includes the months of November to March.