Additional BGN 40 milion will be allocated to help with energy bills

The 2019 budget of Bulgaria’s ministry of social policy envisages to allocate additional 40 million BGN for allowances to help with the cost of energy bills, minister of labour and social policy, Bisser Petkov told BNT on 16th of October.

He explained that the heating allowances will go up because of the increasing prices of fuels this year. Currently, the size of the heating allowance is 75 BGN and the applications are accepted by the end of October.

The minister said that the additional payment will be provided from the reserves in the budget and it will aim at making up for the increase in the prices of fuels. The size of the allowances are calculated on the basis of the prices of electricity, which has not gone up, but the prices of other fuels used for heating have increased, including solid fuel and gas, he added. This increase will be compensated to help many people survive the winter months, Petkov said.

Commenting on the state pensions, the minister said that as of 1^st of July 2019, the ceiling of pensions will go up from 910 to 1,200 BGN. So this way some 40,000 people will receive the full size of their pension, while other 25, 000 people will have higher size of pensions calculated, but will receive the ceiling of 1,200 BGN.