With a one-off energy cost subsidy of up to 100 euros, the Munich Social Department wants to help low-income households to cope with the increased electricity prices in the coming year. Households with up to two people can then receive 50 euros on application, households with three or more people 100 euros. The proposal, on which the city council is to decide at the beginning of next year, goes back to a request of the town hall faction of the SPD / Volt with the support of the Green / Pink List. With a similar aim, CSU City Councilor Alexandra Gaßmann and the Left / The Party parliamentary group had submitted applications to help people who are particularly hard hit by rising energy costs.
As the social department plans, the subsidies are to be paid out from the second half of 2022 to mid-2023 upon request. The costs for household energy rose considerably from January 1st, but the advance payments to the energy suppliers initially remained unchanged. The postponement of the application period is intended to enable citizens who receive their annual accounts in the first half of the year and for whom the price increase in 2022 is not yet so strongly reflected, to claim the subsidy for their annual accounts in the first half of 2023.
Anyone entitled to the Munich Pass can apply for the grant, i.e. not only citizens who receive social assistance or Hartz IV benefits, but also citizens whose monthly income is below the poverty line of 1350 euros for a single person. According to the social services department, the standard rate has so far included 36 euros for electricity costs, and when the standard rate is increased by three euros on January 1, it will be 25 cents more.
There is no subsidy for heating costs
The Department of Social Affairs estimates the need for subsidies at one million euros. That would be enough for payments to 15,000 one- and two-person households and 2,500 larger households. The application process for the energy subsidy should be designed as unbureaucratic as possible in the social bourgeoisie.
In contrast, the Department of Social Affairs does not consider a subsidy for higher heating costs to be necessary. Anyone who receives social assistance or Hartz IV benefits is entitled to the appropriate heating costs – and thus also the additional payment from the annual accounts – being taken over by the social welfare office or job center. In addition, Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) will send another letter to Berlin: The standard rates would not only have to be adjusted to the regionally different cost of living, but would also have to be recalculated to take into account the rising energy costs and the high rate of inflation.