During the energy crisis, the Free State of Bavaria set up a hardship fund to relieve small and medium-sized companies as a supplement to federal aid. The fund should be ready to go in January, and a few weeks later the first money could flow to companies, said Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting in Munich.
The prerequisite for the claim is that the energy costs for the company have doubled and that the company’s existence is threatened. “Then we can help with a sum of at least 6,000 to a maximum of two million euros,” said Söder. Companies with a size of up to 249 employees could submit applications, said Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (free voters). Freelancers and the self-employed are also eligible to apply. Energy costs are subsidized in 2023.
The Bavarian hardship fund is intended to supplement federal aid and applies not only to users of electricity and gas, but to all forms of energy. In the next week, the Bavarian hardship aid should be finalized – then regulations would also be made for clubs, private schools, hospitals and private individuals. Söder and Economics Minister Aiwanger expect the total amount of Bavarian hardship aid to be no more than 1.5 billion euros. However, there should be no upper limit, it is paid according to necessity, not according to the financial framework, said the Prime Minister. “Every company will be saved if it has problems for energy reasons,” said Söder.
The government isn’t expecting a flood of applicants, but rather “a few thousand,” as Aiwanger said. Most of the hardships would probably already be cushioned by the federal measures, said Söder. “The question is: does the federal brake work and how much?” However, he assumes that the measures decided in Berlin will have an effect.