About 42% of respondents to a study conducted by iData believe that in the 2022-2023 heating season they were incorrectly assigned their category of energy vulnerability in relation to their income and think that they should have received more compensation. And 55% agree with the category of vulnerability assigned. The study was commissioned by the Institute for Strategic Initiatives (IPIS) and presented at a press conference on Friday.

Veronica Ateș, deputy executive director of iData, noted that 86% of respondents said they received compensation and 24% didn’t. 52% of those who did not receive compensation did not even apply to the program, and over 20% said they were denied compensation. 12% willingly refused to apply because they thought there there were groups of people that needed the compensation more than them, and 10% of respondents estimated that they were ineligible due to their high income.

About 40% of respondents said it was easy or very easy for them to register for the program. For 10% it was difficult or very difficult. More than half of respondents chose to sign up directly on the website without assistance. Others did it with the help of a social worker or the community librarian.

For about 65% of the respondents, the information on the compensatii.gov.md website was clear or very clear, for 24% neither clear nor unclear, and for about 9% it was unclear or very unclear.

Vadim Pistrinciuc, IPIS executive director, noted that the study shows that people generally appreciated the compensation program, but there were complaints as well, such as about technical issues. At the same time, he believes that official information needs to be presented in a language that is accessible to the general public, including on social media.

The study was conducted from August 16 to September 5 on a nationally representative sample of 1130 respondents aged over 18 years, with a maximum sampling error of 2.9%.