Power bonus for economic hardship

The power bonus for economic hardship is a discount on the bill, provided by the Government and made operational by the Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment, to ensure savings on energy expenditure for families in conditions of economic hardship.

The power bonus is paid both to customers who have subscribed to an offer on the free market and to those served in "maggior tutela" service, but will also be automatically recognized in the event of a change of supplier.

In case of deactivation/transfer of the supply, before the end of the concession period, the residual portion of the base bonus and the supplementary bonus, where applicable, is recognized in the closing invoice upon completion of the entire concession period.

The Social Bonus starting from 2021

From 1 January 2021 (as required by the decree law 26 October 2019 n. 124, converted with amendments by law 19 December 2019, n. 157), to obtain the social bonus for economic hardship it will be sufficient to present each year the Single Substitute Declaration (DSU to be presented to the Municipality, CAF, site INPS, etc.), in order to certify the income situation (ISEE). 

The Single Substitute Declaration presented to access subsidized social services (school canteen, maternity allowance, baby bonus, etc.), also allows automatic access to the bonus for economic hardship, if the conditions exist.

How to get the Power Social Bonus: the requirements

To access the bonus for economic hardship, one of the members of the ISEE household must be the holder of an electricity supply contract with a tariff for domestic use; moreover it must belong to one of these categories:

  • household with an ISEE indicator not exceeding 9,530 euros (for 2023 the ISEE threshold value was raised to 15,000 euros);
  • family unit with at least 4 dependent children (large family) and ISEE indicator not exceeding 20,000 euros (for 2023 the ISEE threshold value was raised to 30,000 euros)*;
  • family nucleus holder of Citizenship Income or Citizenship Pension.

(*) for families with at least 4 dependent children (large family) and an ISEE indicator between 20,000 euros and 30,000 euros, the bonus will be recognized from 1 April 2023 (or, if later, from the date of activation of the subsidized supply) to 31 December 2023; for these households, the IIS will identify the eligible supplies starting from August 2023. Therefore, the bonus will be applied to the first invoice following receipt of the necessary information from the IIS and will also include any amounts already accrued relating to the previous months.

In the presence of the income requirements, INPS sends the data of the family unit to the Integrated Information System (SII**).

The SII has a central role, as it acquires information from INPS, identifies the supplies to be facilitated and communicates them to sellers and distributors of electricity and gas, indicating the period of validity of the concession.

Each family unit is entitled, for the relevant year, to only one bonus per type (electricity, gas, water).

If a person living in the house has serious health conditions who meets the requirements for the bonus for physical discomfort, the family can also request this facility.

**Integrated Information System (SII) managed by the Acquirente Unico company. The SII is an IT database that contains information useful for identifying power and gas supplies..

 

How to get the power bonus: the documents

The Single Substitute Declaration presented to access subsidized social services (school canteen, maternity allowance, baby bonus, etc.), also allows automatic access to the bonus for economic hardship, if necessary the conditions exist.

To maintain the continuity of the benefit, it is necessary to present the Single Substitute Declaration at least one month before the expiry of the previous bonus (the start date of the benefit runs from the first day of the second month following that of the presentation of the DSU or the first day of the month in which the SII carries out its checks and sends notifications to sellers and distributors).

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