​More than 270,000 payments and bills worth more than 85 million lei were paid through energy cards intended for vulnerable people to pay their electricity bills, and more than 590,000 Romanians were informed that they will not receive public assistance, the Investment Ministry said in a statement and European projects (MIPE).

The ministry under the leadership of Marcel Bolosh will speak at the government meeting on Thursday informational reference with the current situation regarding financial assistance in the amount of 1400 lei, provided in 2 installments this year, for the payment of utility bills to vulnerable sections of the population.

At the moment, 2,147,325 relevant places of consumption have been identified, and for the first payment of 700 lei, MIPE reports that in February it issued and topped up bills related to energy cards for 1,789,271 places of consumption.

The first payments arrived on February 20, 2023.

• “Since February 20, the date from which energy cards can be used, more than 272,399 postal money transfer transactions have been made for a total amount of 85,805,090 lei. The average cost of payment is 313 lei.
• Also, 4,377 online applications worth 1,695,823 lei were processed and 9,709 applications were rejected (missing inappropriate documents/photos). this is shown in the informational guide.

More than 590,000 Romanians have been denied this aid, but more than 350,000 others will receive cards these days

The ministry says it has updated the list of beneficiaries eligible for aid, but also shows how many Romanians have been notified that they will not receive the aid:

• “For situations where it was not possible to determine how many people live in one house, 549,680 self-responsible declarations were distributed in February through CN Poșta Română SA, in which potential beneficiaries presented a clear situation regarding the place of consumption.
• According to this approach, 458,323 self-responsible declarations were collected and after their verification, 358,054 new suitable places of consumption were identified, whose energy cards will be issued and distributed in the first half of March.
• In March, CN Poșta Română SA distributed 1,996 affidavits that created 1,437 new cards, and another 13,495 affidavits will be distributed this month.
• In addition, Poșta Română issued and distributed 590,087 disqualification notices in February (303,678 notices for people with an income of more than 2,000 lei and 286,409 notices if the average income per place of consumption exceeds 2,000 lei). On March 3, their delivery rate is 43%.
• In February, CN Poșta Română SA distributed 53,030 models of proof of indebtedness certificates to owner associations (delivery rate was 82% as of March 3, 2023). (..)
• Regarding the activity of the call center, 107,890 phone calls were received and 7,544 written messages were resolved.” this is also shown in the document.
  

On February 20, the post office started paying electricity bills for vulnerable people who received the so-called energy cards, and according to Minister Marcel Bolosh, in the first 8 hours, 13,012 payments with the energy cards were made, amounting to 4,375,605 lei.

Beneficiaries of support can use help to pay their electricity bills three ways:

• Straight to the postman, at the beneficiary’s place of residence, by postal order. If they choose to pay at home, beneficiaries must either ask the postman directly or request the presence of a postman at home by calling the Romanian Post call center at 031.9966;
• By postal order, at any post office from a populated place or at a post office within the radius of which the recipient lives, in a rural area;
• Onlinethrough the IT application that Poșta Română provides to the beneficiaries.

“An online payment request can be made by visiting the Romanian Post website www.posta-romana.ro under the section “Energy compensation”. There, the beneficiary registers an application, guided by step-by-step instructions for uploading documents. At the end, he receives a confirmation by e-mail about the registration of the payment request.

No later than 5 days later, he receives, also by e-mail, another confirmation that his request has been resolved. If any of the uploaded documents turn out to be inappropriate, the beneficiary will be notified,” the Romanian post office said.

The Energy Card enables beneficiaries to pay current or outstanding bills for:

• electricity,
• thermal energy in a centralized system,
• Propane cylinder for liquefied gas for heating (except cylinders for liquefied gas with butane for domestic use – cooking),
• gases,
• firewood (except construction wood, wood for processing, etc.),
• fuel oil, pellets and other materials for heating only (eg geothermal water, coal, sawdust briquettes).

Mandatory documents for making payments by postal transfer are:

• energy card, valid on the date of payment through postal transfer services, in the original,
• a document certifying the identity of the recipient of assistance, in the original,
• supporting document(s) confirming current and/or outstanding debt to the energy supplier and/or, as the case may be, to the owner/tenant association: invoices, debt certificate, tax receipts.

You can use energy cards of both the first and second installments until December 27, 2023.

• Read also: Problems when using energy cards: MIPE listed dozens of “special situations” that may arise when providing assistance of 1,400 lei