Draft Regulation on assignment of categories of energy vulnerability submitted to public consultations

Chisinau, Oct. 4 /MOLDPRES/- Yesterday, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection held public consultations on the draft Regulation regarding the assignment of categories of energy vulnerability and the method of establishing and paying compensations for the payment of energy bills.

The consultations were attended by experts in the field and representatives of civil society. According to the project, registration in the information system will be carried out in two ways: individually or assisted. Families will register on the platform only once a year, but will have the opportunity to make changes in the system by submitting an application to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection.

Thus, to establish the level of vulnerability, seven steps will be followed, the first being the non-vulnerability test, through which the monthly income and wealth of the applicants will be evaluated. The second step will be to establish the minimum level of family expenses based on the average monthly consumption expenses, published by the National Bureau of Statistics for the fourth quarter of the previous year. Afterwards, the family's global monthly income will be determined, which will include all sources of income, except for some one-off allowances, such as death benefits, etc.

At the same time, the calculation of the income available for the payment of energy will be carried out, which will represent the difference between the global monthly income and the level of the family's minimum expenses. Also, the cost of the energy used by the household during the cold period of the year will be established and, depending on the ratio between it and the income available for energy payment, the vulnerability category will be assigned.

The established categories are classified into: very high energy vulnerability, for consumers with a coefficient greater than or equal to 70%; high energy vulnerability, for consumers with a coefficient greater than or equal to 40%, but less than 70%; medium energy vulnerability, for consumers with a coefficient greater than or equal to 20%, but less than 40%; low energy vulnerability, for consumers with a coefficient greater than or equal to 10%, but less than 20%; non-vulnerability, for consumers with a coefficient lower than 10%.

After the approval of the Regulation by the Government, the online platform compensații.gov.md will be launched, and families will be able to register for the assignment of the vulnerability category. Later, through another Government decision, the size of the compensations for each category will be established, which will be paid as last year, in the energy bills.

Photo: time.md