The Government today has approved direct bill deductions during the cold season for an extended number of families – 746,000 – to offset the recent surge in gas rates. The Social Aid Program has also been extended in this respect, IPN reports.

Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița said the assistance covers all domestic consumers and will be differentiated depending on consumption.

Specifically, in the bill for November, households will pay 6.8 lei for a cubic meter for a consumption of up to 50 cubic meters, with the Government to cover the remainder of 4.3 lei/m3. For the consumption range 50-150 m3, the rate for households will be 7.9 lei/m3 and the government-subsidised deduction 3.2 lei/m3. It’s estimated that three in four households in Moldova consume 150 m3 of gas or less.

Additionally, direct bill deductions will be offered for heating for 222,000 beneficiaries in Chisinau and Bălți, cities that rely to a great extent on district heating. Subsidies will cover two-thirds of the rise in the cost of the first gigacalorie, but no more than 450 lei a month.

The Social Aid Program, designed for vulnerable low-income families, has also been extended. In particular, the number of eligible recipients of cold season benefits has been increased by 86,000 families, to about 300,000. The monthly benefit was raised from 500 to 700 lei.

Social Protection Minister Marcel Spatari told reporters that families living on less than 7619 lei a month become eligible under the program.

“Today we announced a compensation package for the next five months (November 2021-March 2022), estimated at 1.6 billion lei. It involves expenses that are added to the amounts already granted by the Government for supporting people through the crisis”, said Gavrilița.

Asked by reporters whether electricity bills could be partly subsidized too, the prime minister said the current power supply agreement is valid until March 2022 and no rate increases are expected.