The President said: “In the 20 years of using the Estonian identity card and digital signature, the state has reached the point where it should be able to decide flexibly, on the basis of databases. comprehensive, when to provide support to people. in need without them having to submit a request – the latter creating an unnecessary administrative burden. “

The head of state, whose role is mainly symbolic and ceremonial, was visiting the Information Systems Authority (RIA) when he made his remarks on Thursday, reported by the media on Friday.

The simplest solution should be sought to distribute support to those in need, added Karis.

The finance ministry announced on Friday that nationwide preparations are in place to partially reimburse electricity, natural gas and district heating bills, retroactive to October, and which is to be handled by local government and requires those eligible for support to seek help.

Local governments have had to hire additional staff to process the requests, reports the ERR.

The application process can be submitted electronically, by mail or in person, and assistance is open to people with a household income of less than € 1,126 per month for a household with only one adult income, or less than € 2,365 for a household with two children.

The electricity price threshold above which the aid is paid is € 0.12 per Kwh, the threshold for natural gas being set at € 49 per Mwh and for district heating at € 78 per Mwh.

Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reformist) said the support measure, which instead came from the Center Party component of the coalition, is double the similar measures put in place in Norway, relative to the GDP of both countries.

The surge in energy prices since last fall, where records were set in all three categories – for electricity, the figure so far has been € 469 per Mwh on average full-day prices , almost exactly one month ago – has also been addressed through a separate measure that reimburses 50 percent of grid connection costs for electricity; 100 percent for natural gas. A Reform Party measure, this measure is more likely to benefit businesses and heavy consumers.

A proposal to cut VAT from the current 20% to 8%, on all energy bills, has met opposition from the Reform Party, while its coalition partner, the Center, softened its previous stance on political support (introduced by Isamaa in a bill to be dealt with after the Riikogu returns to work next week and, in an unusual display of unity, supported by the official positions of opposition MPs SDE and EKRE).

It is one of the first times that the Head of State speaks on domestic politics; Karis’ ancestor, Kersti Kaljulaid, did this on numerous occasions, especially when the Center / EKRE / Isamaa coalition was in power.

The Ministry of Finance has more information on eligibility for energy bill support on its website, not available in English, here.

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