​The government has promised 1,400 lei in aid to vulnerable Romanians this year to pay off energy and gas debts, but it has a big problem: it doesn’t know all the addresses of the beneficiaries, nor how many of them live at the same address. to calculate the allowable household income.

• We remind you that money is paid for the place of consumption, and in households with several residents, the income per family member must be less than 2,000 lei.

The problems mentioned above appear in the justification of the draft order on the agenda on Wednesday at the Victoria Palace, and the solutions proposed by the Government are the self-declarations provided by the relevant beneficiaries and their collection by the Romanian Post.

• SEE DRAFT ORDINANCE AND FUND

What exactly are the problems of the Government with the help of 1400 lei

Last December, the government passed an emergency resolution (OG 166/2022) promising this year financial assistance of 1,400 lei to vulnerable sections of the population to compensate for energy prices provided on a consumption/vulnerable household basis. , in two parts – February and September 2023.

The support, which is only available to certain eligible beneficiaries, is provided only to pay current and/or outstanding debts to energy suppliers through a special mechanism provided for in the Decree.

The mechanism is based on the identification of the relevant beneficiaries by the place of consumption, respectively, on the correct identification of the home address of the potential beneficiaries of support / beneficiaries of support, including people who live at the same address as the beneficiary of support, to calculate the average income per place of consumption / household.

From this point on, problems arise: in many situations, it is impossible to identify co-residents for the place of consumption

• “Identifying eligible beneficiaries requires cooperation between different institutions, mainly by surveying existing databases at the level of the institutions involved, putting in place an IT system to manage these data and extracting the necessary information to correctly identify eligible beneficiaries.
• Given that the support provided to vulnerable categories of population to offset the price of energy is partly supported by external grants, it is necessary to accurately process the information available in the databases of the institutions involved to ensure adequate audit trails and their correlation/confrontation with the real situation on the ground /place of consumption/household.
• After simulations carried out with the cooperation of the agencies involved, it was found that in many situations it is not possible to identify co-residents for the place of consumption, and therefore it is necessary to identify the relevant persons based on affidavits provided by the beneficiaries of support.
• The problems of determining the exact address of the beneficiaries are mostly related to the lack of accurate mapping of the street network, especially in rural areas, where there are whole villages where the streets do not have names. Even in the urban environment, you can find streets without names, streets with the same name in the same city.
• The Romanian Post Office can ensure the printing, distribution, search, scanning and transmission of the information contained in the affidavits, provided that the beneficiaries of the support are located throughout the territory of Romania, in rural and urban areas.”, this is shown in the explanatory note.

How to List Eligible Beneficiaries: STS will query multiple databases to find CNPs

The Ministry of Labor (MMSS) will compile a list of potential beneficiaries with the name, surname and CNP of each person who falls under the category of beneficiaries, and an IT program designed for this purpose will be used to compile the lists of the beneficiaries of the assistance. The special communication service (STS), says the draft order.

The process is long and time-consuming: data from the list of the Ministry of Labor is requested by the DPS through its application to the Ministry of Finance and ANAF to check the income of potential beneficiaries.

Following these income checks, the DPS will check the data held by the Directorate General of Personal Affairs (DGEP) of the Ministry of Interior (MAI) to obtain a list of persons who share a common residence linked to the place of consumption.

• “Results returned upon request shall contain only the CNP of persons who share a common residence for the relevant place of consumption, address of residence/residence and death information, if any,” the draft order said.

In addition, the CNP of persons listed in the Ministry of Labor, as well as the CNP of co-residents, are requested in the databases available in the Ministry of Finance, ANAF, MMSS, pension institutions not integrated into the state pension system and institutions of the national defense system, public order and national security , except when the information is subject to special security requirements, to obtain for each place of consumption the average income of the co-residents who live or live for that place of consumption.

• After completing all these requests, 2 lists will be created, one with income-eligible beneficiaries and one with non-income-eligible beneficiaries.

This list of beneficiaries who do not meet the income criteria will be sent by the DPS to the Ministry of European Investments and Projects (MIPE), which will forward it to the Romanian Post Office to inform people about the results of the checks carried out. and the result of these checks.

In addition, notified persons will be able to request details over the phone to find out why they cannot receive the money.

If the reason that led to the non-fulfillment of the relevant income is determined by the records of co-residents who do not actually live at the place of consumption and whose incomes were taken into account when determining the relevant income, the relevant person will be recommended the following:

• a) legal regulation of the real housing situation;
• b) or refer the person to the specialized services of the local public administration to carry out a social survey to establish the number and people who actually live in the place of consumption.

Those who are not satisfied can also request a social survey to establish the number and people who actually live in the place of consumption, and local public administrations through public social assistance services at the level of communes, cities, municipalities, sectors, are required to fill out a social survey within a maximum of 10 working days from the date of receipt of the request.

In cases where inquiries made to the DGEP do not return results that can identify co-residents for the respective consumption location, no energy card is issued and the DPS prepares a list of these cases, which is sent to the Romanian Post for identification purposes.

Potential beneficiaries living or living in a place of consumption for which it is not possible to identify co-residents will be able to complete a declaration under their own responsibility, indicating the number and persons actually living in the place of consumption.

The Romanian Post will ensure the distribution of the declarations to these persons under its own responsibility, the collection of these completed declarations within a maximum of 3 days after mailing and the entry of the collected data into the IT system created by the Post to manage this support program.

Bolosh: Approximately 3.9 million vulnerable Romanians can receive this assistance. What conditions

Marcel Bolosh, Minister of European Investments and Projects (MIPE), said on December 8 that approximately 3.9 million Romanians could benefit from the aid, and a few days later, on December 23, he said that approximately 2.8 million households would receive the aid. .

How assistance will be provided to compensate for energy prices

Vulnerable Romanians will receive energy price compensation support in the nominal amount of 1,400 lei, which can be used until 31 December 2023 and will be provided per point of consumption/vulnerable household in two installments as shown below:

• 700 lei/semester, granted in February 2023 for the period 01.01.2023 – 06.30.2023;
• 700 lei/semester, awarded in September 2023 for the period 07/01/2023 – 12/31/2023.

According to Order No. 166/2022, the event will benefit:

• pensioners of the state pension system, pensioners on the register of sectoral pension houses and beneficiaries of rights granted under special laws, aged 60 and over and whose monthly income is less than or equal to 2,000 lei, as well as pensioners with a disability pension who independently reached the age and whose monthly income does not exceed 2000 lei;
• persons – children and adults – classified as severely, severely or moderately disabled, whose own monthly income is less than or equal to 2000 lei;
• families receiving family support;
• families and single citizens who are entitled to a guaranteed minimum income.

Under MIPE, support is granted at the point of consumption, so that in households with several residents, income per family member must be less than 2,000 lei.

European funds in the amount of 4 billion lei have been allocated for heating assistance from the Human Capital Operational Program and the Regional Operational Program for the 2014-2020 programming period, within the savings identified at the level of these programs and the amounts considered at risk for withdrawal during the 2014 programming period – 2020 years.

What potential beneficiaries need to know

The list of people who will receive this support will be compiled by the Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity, and the support will be provided in the form of a voucher, printed and distributed by the National Company “Poșta Română” SA, without a denomination. value valid throughout Romania, which entitles the owner to benefit from financial assistance to offset the price of energy: electricity, district heating, gas, cylinders, wood for fire, fuel oil, pellets and other heating materials.

Beneficiaries of the aid will be able to pay current and/or outstanding debts to energy suppliers using the energy card through the postal transfer service provided by CN Poșta Română SA. The Ministry of Investments and European Projects will provide funds for this assistance by transferring the amount to the bank account of CN Poșta Română SA.

People who belong to more than one category will receive support related to the one category they belong to on the day it is provided. Detailed lists of individuals/families eligible for this benefit will be provided to CN Posta Română by the Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity.