People who receive basic security have significantly higher electricity costs than similar households without support. Savings are obviously not attractive anyway, a study shows. Why is that – and what could really help.
In theory, such a reward should work: every euro saved in electricity costs can be kept and used for something else. In the case of people who receive citizen income, i.e. the state-determined subsistence level, this means: You could spend more on food, sometimes grant the children a wish. Or collect fewer returnable bottles, save yourself the trip to the Tafel to pick up free groceries. Because the applicable rules for the citizen’s income provide that the recipients receive a lump sum for their electricity bill: it is currently 40.75 euros for an adult, the rest they pay themselves. But this incentive to save does not seem to work.