Background information

Considering the increase in the price of energy, the government designed a measure to help people pay their energy bills. Prices for electricity have increased over 600% and prices for natural gas have increased over 535%. Considering that 30% of the budget of a household with an average monthly income per family member of RON 2,000 (€400) per member per month is allocated for paying the energy bills, the government created a measure to ensure that vulnerable people and households can manage the energy bills.

Content of measure

The measure is addressing the following categories:

• pensioners of the public pension system, aged 60 or older and whose monthly income is less than or equal to RON 2,000 (€400)
• pensioners with a disability pension, regardless of age, and whose monthly income is less than or equal to RON 2,000 (€400)
• persons - children and adults - classified as severely, severely or moderately disabled, whose monthly income is less than or equal to RON 2,000 (€400)
• families receiving family support allowance
• families and single persons who are beneficiaries of the guaranteed minimum income.

The financial aid offered in this the energy card is equal to RON 1,400 (€280) per person in a vulnerable household and is paid in two allotments, as it follows: a first allotment of RON 700 (€140) starting with February 2023 and a second allotment of RON 700 (€140) paid starting with September 2023.

Use of measure

Between 20 February 2023 and 25 May 2023, 3 million payments were made through the energy card. The total value of the amounts paid reaching RON 678 million (€135 million). Of the total amount of payments, 145,000 of them, worth over RON 30 million (€6 million), were made through the online platform, and for firewood, energy cards were used by over 92,000 beneficiaries. The amount paid, in cash, to compensate the cost of firewood is RON 62.4 million (€12.5 million). More than 4 million people are expected to benefit from energy cards, the total budget of the program being RON 2.8 billion (600,000 million).

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Disabled Pensioners People on social benefits People on low incomes

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	European Funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

The involvement of social partners is not known.

Views and reactions

No public positions or views have been expressed by social partners regarding the measure.

Sources

• 08 December 2022: GEO 166 2022 (legislatie.just.ro)
• 12 January 2023: GEO 3/2023 (legislatie.just.ro)
• 31 January 2023: GEO 15/2023 (legislatie.just.ro)
• 10 May 2023: GEO 32 2023 (legislatie.just.ro)