News item | 28-04-2022 | 16:37
The cabinet is making an extra 175 million euros available for the implementation by municipalities of the one-off energy surcharge of 800 euros. A total of 854 million euros is now available for the scheme, which is intended to help households with a minimum income to pay their energy bills. Minister Schouten (Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions) writes this in a letter to the House of Representatives.
By allocating the extra funds, the cabinet offers municipalities a financial guarantee that they can pay an energy surcharge of 800 euros to all households with an income of up to 120 percent of the social minimum. The cabinet has taken the decision after signals from municipalities that the current budget may not be sufficient to provide all these households with the energy surcharge. In order not to run a financial risk themselves, a number of municipalities chose to provide the energy surcharge to a smaller target group or to pay a lower amount per household.
In response to a motion by the House of Representatives, Minister Schouten already gave municipalities a guarantee at the end of March that they would be compensated if it turns out that the budget is not sufficient. Now that this financial security is available, the minister is counting on municipalities to no longer be hesitant and will actually provide all households with an income of up to 120 percent of the social minimum with a one-off energy surcharge of 800 euros.
