Moldovan labour minister says assistance provided by government for compensations to increase in December

Chisinau, 11 December /MOLDPRES/ - The compensations for December for the natural gas consumers will increase, as the tariff grew in late last November. Also, the compensations for November will provide a tariff not higher than in the last year. Labour and Social Protection Minister Alexei Buzu made statements to this effect after a today’s cabinet meeting.    

The official said that the government assured the citizens that it would attenuate any increase in the energy tariffs, so that the households do not pay post compensations more than they paid in the previous cold season.   

„The government will attenuate any growth of the tariff for natural gas. The changes regard only the citizens for which the natural gas represents the main source of heating. Thus, the people will again verify the personal box, in order to see the value of the compensation established for December. The government and the team of the Labour and Social Protection Ministry work, in order to make sure that, this year as well, we provide every support needed, so that the citizens who benefit from compensations do not pay for energy more than last year. I am sure that we will overcome this winter successfully together,’’ Alexei Buzu stressed.      

The official also pointed out that, if the tariff for thermal energy increased, the authorities would also increase the assistance provided by the state.   

„As for the consumers of thermal energy, the compensations for November were calculated proceeding from the tariff for this month – 1,824 lei /Gcal. If the tariff for thermal energy increases in the next months, the compensations received by the households, the main source of heating of which is the thermal energy, will grow too,’’ Alexei Buzu also said.       

The official urged the citizens in need of support to call the free of charge phone line 0 8000 5000 or write to the email [email protected]. ‘’If errors of omissions are found out, then the compensations will be provided retroactively next month. Each case is verified attentively,’’ Alexei Buzu noted.  

Following the processing of applications, over 634,000 households will benefit from compensations for last November, which accounts for 90 per cent of the applicants. Thus, 237,000 families will receive compensations worth 800 lei, while the rest of the households will receive between 300 and 800 lei. The payments will be able to be taken starting from today at post offices or will be transferred to bank cards.    

To receive compensations, all household consumers must submit an application, no matter whether they submitted an application last year or not. The application can be filled in online, on the platform www.compensatii.gov.md or with the help of registers. The applications can be submitted during the entire cold season till the date of 28 of each month; yet, the compensations will be provided starting from the month when the application was submitted.  

The government provides compensations for energy to the vulnerable households through the Assistance at Meter programme for the third year in a row. The compensations are provided for the cold period of the year, which includes the months November-March.