The municipality of Harderwijk has made a mistake with the energy subsidy for minimum wages. Presumably about 200 households were wrongly paid 800 euros and now have to pay it back.
The Cabinet decided last month to make a one-off payment to the approximately 850,000 households with an income below 120 percent of the social minimum due to rising energy prices. Shortly afterwards, however, a few minima in Harderwijk who had received a letter with that promise received a phone call that they were not eligible after all.
It is not clear what exactly went wrong. The municipality could not yet be reached for comment. The PvdA speculates in the regional newspaper De Stentor that no distinction may have been made between main residents and other family members. Only the main occupant who pays the energy costs is entitled to the compensation.
Already issued
PvdA councilor Jitske van Noordennen tells Omroep Gelderland that she spoke to someone who had already spent the promised money. “He really has his hands in her hair.”
She fears that more low-income people will get into trouble because of the mistake. She therefore pleads for leniency with the municipality.
“The only solution we see or wish for is that they should be allowed to keep the money,” says Van Noordennen. “We don’t know if this is possible, and it’s an expensive joke, but people should not be the victims of mistakes by the municipality.”
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