News item | 07-11-2025 | 1:00 PM
To provide additional help to people with a low income and a high energy bill this winter, municipalities will receive an additional €30 million. With this money, municipalities can do more to reach households with financial worries and offer help in making their homes more sustainable.
More than €100 million extra will be made available for the public energy fund that will become available from the winter period 2026/2027, with the help of the European social climate fund. State Secretary Nobel (Participation and Integration) reports this in a letter to the House of Representatives.
Last autumn, thanks to the Grinwis (CU) amendment, a one-off €50 million became available to help people who cannot pay their energy bills. Because a public energy fund can only be in place from the winter period 2026/2027, the cabinet has decided to release €30 million for municipalities in the coming months.
€20 million of the amendment will be used for this purpose. In addition, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment is allocating €10 million to better reach households with energy poverty. The 151,000 households that have applied through the Temporary Energy Emergency Fund and have indicated that they are open to help in reducing their energy bills are in any case eligible for help.
State Secretary Nobel is pleased that municipalities have the opportunity with these resources to provide extra help to households that have difficulty paying their energy bills. Municipalities can connect to existing services; from sustainability initiatives and energy coaches to income support. The aim is to make energy bills for households more manageable this winter. “It is good that we can help households this winter. In the longer term, we must ensure that households can structurally reduce their energy bills.”
Public energy fund
From next winter, there will be a multi-year public fund for households that cannot pay their energy bills, in combination with help in making homes more sustainable. A total of €339.75 million will be available for the fund. That is €105.25 million more than initially intended. This is possible because the government has decided to focus more heavily on helping with energy poverty when applying for the European social climate fund.
The European funds are subject to approval of the proposal by the European Commission. The precise term of the public energy fund is still being worked out.