The energy crisis has dealt a direct blow to Spanish households due to months of historic price increases, with vulnerable families the main victims. electricity prices They are now well below the worst crisis on record, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, but remain high relative to the historical average. And the consequences continue to be felt (and now) in the increase in the number of households receiving assistance. social bonus, Electricity bill discount program for vulnerable families.
Spain surpassed this 1.5 million households benefit from this aid for the first time to collect the electricity bill. According to official Government records, almost 1.521 million families benefited from the social electricity bonus at the end of last July, following strong increases throughout the energy crisis. On the positive side: Aid is reaching more and more homes. The downside: It has been confirmed that more and more families need them.
Number of people benefiting from social bonusese added 267,300 new homes, up 21% in just one year Discounts have been available for vulnerable and severely vulnerable people since July 2022. Since the beginning of the energy crisis, the number of beneficiaries of the bonus has increased by 31%, with a further 359,600 families added since May 2021 (just before the first emergency measures adopted by the Government to address this situation). According to the combined analysis of statistics of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), mitigating the increase in energy prices in June of the same year.
The electricity social bonus allows a reduction of between 25% and 40% on electricity bills depending on the degree of vulnerability (vulnerable, seriously vulnerable or at risk of social exclusion), but as part of the anti-crisis measures introduced by the Government Temporarily discounted up to 65% and 80% of the receipt For the vast majority of beneficiaries. The extraordinary increase in aid will in principle only apply until the end of the year, and the Administration must decide in the coming months whether to extend the aid.
The electricity bonus also gives all its beneficiaries access to the thermal social bonus, a voucher that helps pay part of the costs of gas, water and heating through a single payment of between 40 and 375 euros per year, depending on the degree of vulnerability and climatic conditions. the region where the beneficiaries live.
The cost of the social electricity bonus (currently around 800 million euros per year) is distributed among all operators in the electricity sector according to their market share, but they then pass this on to their customers. The total amount of benefits provided by the thermal social bonus (approximately 260 million) is covered by the general budget of the State.
One quarter per large family
As of the end of July, 1.52 million beneficiaries, Almost three-quarters are directly related to criteria related to income level Households: 1 million are considered vulnerable or severely vulnerable households, with approximately 105,000 retirees receiving the minimum pension and 11,000 people receiving the minimum living income.
One in every four people who receive a social bonus receives it because they have a large family. (those with three or more children) and in most cases no criteria linked to household income are taken into account. Almost 379,400 large families received assistance at the end of July, according to Government data, which does not distinguish between different types of recipients within this group.
Yes, CNMC does; Data up to the end of April shows that the majority of large families benefit from discounts simply because they are large (25% discount in this case), and some perceive them as vulnerable consumers. Heavy due to low income levels (in which case the discount can be as high as 80%). Out of a total of 346,571 major beneficiary families in April, only 101,226 incomes were taken into account due to their seriously vulnerable consumer status.
Frozen reform
The government announced in mid-March that it was working on a reform of the conditions for large families to receive social assistance. Help with your electricity bills and other energy costs, in order to apply family income ceilings in order to benefit from discounts and to prevent some households who do not really need them from benefiting from these discounts.
The executive later stressed that the aim was to deliver reform “as quickly as possible”, but six months later he stressed that changes were still up in the air. Teresa Ribera, vice president and minister for Ecological Transition, confirmed that negotiations are taking place with major family associations to implement the reform in an agreed manner and that this will not happen before the 23J elections. Now that the Government was in office, the possibility of carrying out reform was in any case postponed until after a final inquiry. Officially, the Ministry only states that there is no news on this issue.
The March announcement about the nascent reform came amid controversy after it was learned that Madrid Community vice-president Enrique Ossorio, regional leader of Más Madrid Mónica GarcÃa and other Madrid regional politicians had received social bonuses for electricity and thermal. due to the situation of large families, but clearly not due to low family income. Since the announcement of the planned changes, approximately 16,500 new large families have joined the list of beneficiaries of the social electricity bonus.
Higher income limits
The government sent messages of peace to crowded families. Vice President Ribera himself confirmed that, given the characteristics of such family units and the large number of cohabitants they can contain, they will be able to maintain social electricity and gas bonuses after the reform with “much higher” income levels than other family units. must be considered a vulnerable or seriously vulnerable consumer.
The executive has never officially stated the maximum income amounts it intends (or plans) to establish for large families, but in principle the ministry’s intention is to be more flexible and allow higher incomes for each child of large families. can access help.
In general, the income limits added for each additional child are the result of adding 0.5 times the very effective income indicator (IPREM), which this year is set at 8,400 euros per year in 14 installments, but for large families this means that higher income households continue to receive social bonuses and thermal bonuses. The multiplier will be higher to make it easier to win.
Currently, households consisting of two adults and one minor can be considered vulnerable and receive a social electricity bonus with an annual family income of less than €19,320; For units with two adults and two minors, the limit was set at 23,520. Euro, according to government data. For large families, starting from the third child, the limit will currently be around 26,500 euros.
Source: Informacion
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