State will provide energy compensation, during the cold period 2025 - 2026, to over 1.2 million citizens
More than two-thirds of households in the Republic of Moldova that registered on the compensații.gov.md platform will receive state compensation during the cold season of 2025-2026. Specifically, 605,538 out of the 783,000 households that submitted applications have qualified as beneficiaries of the Government Energy Compensation Program "Ajutor la contor." This announcement was made by the Minister of Labor and Social Protection, Natalia Plugaru, during a press conference held at the Government on December 12.
The households that will benefit from compensation cover over 1.2 million citizens, and the state budget allocated amounts to over 2.3 billion lei.
Minister Natalia Plugaru stated that the November payments are already available, and beneficiaries who indicated a bank or social account will receive the money via direct transfer starting today.
At the same time, those who opted to withdraw money from post offices will be able to do so starting Monday, December 15, and will need to present their identity card.
Over half of the beneficiaries will receive between 800 and 1,000 lei
Regarding the amount of support, 53% of eligible households will receive the maximum compensation – 800 lei for those using wood and 1,000 lei for other energy sources.
Approximately 23% of beneficiaries will receive intermediate amounts, and the rest will receive the minimum compensation of 500 lei. The compensations will be granted monthly, throughout the heating season - from November to March.
*"The government is with citizens during this cold season, as it has been for the last three years. The compensation program is temporary and comes to the aid of vulnerable people, especially pensioners, families with children, people with disabilities and those with low incomes, for whom this support is indispensable during the winter period, declared the Minister of Labour and Social Protection, Natalia Plugaru.
The analysis of the approved files shows that 287,000 beneficiary households use solid fuels (wood and coal) for heating. Another 169,000 households heat with natural gas, 106,134 are connected to centralized thermal energy, and over 42,000 use electricity as the primary source of heating.
800 million lei more from the state budget
Establishing eligibility involved rigorous checks, carried out by connecting to 12 databases of state and private institutions, including the State Tax Service, the National Social Insurance House, the Border Police, and banking institutions, to ensure the correct allocation of compensation.
"The estimated budget, according to the analyses that we have made and foreseen, will be around 2.3 billion lei. We will see the final budget at the end of the season. I want to note that the sources from the state budget this year are higher than last year, when we also had support from donors. If last year 1.5 billion lei were allocated from the state budget, this season we estimate around 2.3 billion lei", compared Minister Plugaru.
Regarding the minimum and maximum compensation, it is established only once and is paid in the same amount every month, the minister pointed out.
Asked what people dissatisfied with the assigned energy vulnerability level can do, Natalia Plugaru stated that the authorities have foreseen such situations.
"The ministry's team is ready to answer every citizen who has questions about how the compensation for their household was calculated, why they benefited last year and this year they do not benefit or vice versa. All these questions can be addressed to the call center, at 0 8000 5000, or to the e-mail address [email protected]. We have 35 operators on the hotline who are ready to answer citizens", the minister pointed out.
Regarding possible sanctions for declaring false data, the minister specified that no fines are foreseen.
“If there are such situations, a recalculation is made in the system, and the person may lose the right to obtain heat compensation. There are also situations in which, following the recalculation, some people may become eligible for compensation. All cases are analyzed individually, with the support of the call center and the team that manages the electronic system”.
What should people who have failed to apply for compensation do
Natalia Plugaru reiterated that people who have failed to register on the compensații.gov.md platform by the deadline can still do so, and will be included in the system for the coming months. The government call center will remain operational throughout the cold season, to provide support to citizens.
We note that citizens can check their energy compensations, starting today, December 12, on the government platform compensatii.gov.md. After authentication, each beneficiary can see in their personal cabinet the amount granted and how it was calculated.
For the 2025–2026 cold season, compensations are calculated individually for each household. The maximum ceiling for thermal energy, natural gas and electricity was reduced this year from 1,400 to 1,000 lei per month, according to new rules approved by the Government on December 3. For solid fuels, the ceiling is 800 lei.
The support is granted for the period November 2025 – March 2026 and takes into account the household consumption, the degree of vulnerability and the primary source of heating.
We recall that over 720,000 families, with over 1.5 million members, received compensation during the previous cold season, when the Government allocated 2.69 billion lei for this support program.
