Energy costs are rising and rising, and for many this will be reflected in their bills from next year. From January onwards, low-income households should be able to apply for a subsidy from the city’s heat fund, which is filled with 20 million euros. The aim is that the first funds can then be paid out, as Julia Sterzer said on Wednesday. She is managing director of Arbeiterwohlfahrt and spokeswoman for the independent welfare organizations in Munich. The latter should take care of the examination of the applications and the payment of the money in cooperation with the city and the municipal utilities.
Mayor Verena Dietl (SPD) said she was happy about the federal measures and aid packages. Nevertheless, it was important to the city to offer additional support. The Stadtwerke (SWM) can provide the money for the heat fund because the wholesale prices for electricity from wind farms have risen sharply and the municipal energy supplier is therefore facing unplanned profits from their wind turbines this year. This was explained by Martin Janke, who is the project manager responsible for the heat fund at SWM.
All those whose monthly net income is below the current risk of poverty threshold and who do not receive Hartz IV or social assistance can apply for a subsidy. The poverty threshold for a single household in Munich is currently 1540 euros, for two people it is 2310 euros, for a family with one child under the age of 14 it is 2770 euros. It doesn’t matter which energy provider you are a customer of; it doesn’t have to be the public utility company.
It should be easy to submit an application in the municipal welfare centers and at various contact points for free welfare. These include workers’ welfare, Caritas, diaconia, the Red Cross, the Jewish religious community and the parity welfare association. All you need is an ID card, proof of consumption and proof of income, said social officer Dorothee Schiwy (SPD). If you have a corresponding Munich Pass, you can save yourself the proof of income.
Schiwy expects that 10,000 to 20,000 households in Munich could be entitled to benefit from a subsidy from the heat fund. The fund is set up for two years, and the funds can be applied for annually. How high the flat rates should be for the respective household sizes is still being worked out. Staff for processing applications is to be increased in the social community centres.
There should also be a hotline provided by the Diakonie for the citizens, which is manned Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is not yet certain when it will be activated. The public utility company is putting together a website that is scheduled to go online in a rudimentary form in November. Concrete information in several languages should then be available in January. The city council is to decide on November 17 in the social committee on the establishment of the heat fund.