The new €150 energy voucher in Austria, ie: the €150 credit on the annual electricity bill, may be a blessing to many but, unfortunately, it is also looking like it could be nothing but a gigantic hassle for others.
After all, people like me who received the €150 energy voucher and easily submitted it by either mail or online, shouldn’t have a problem receiving the Austrian government’s help in paying our much higher energy bills this year.
But tens of thousands of others could possibly discover that getting the money is a bit of a hassle or, in some cases, impossible for them.
Why could getting the €150 energy voucher in Austria be difficult for some?
For people like me who have their electricity and gas meters registered in their own name, getting the €150 energy help should be pretty simple.
If everything is done correctly, once the voucher has been submitted, the €150 should be deducted from our annual bill, leaving us to pay the remainder owed, if any.
For those who do not have their meters registered in their own names, however, things could be quite a bit more complicated.
Even if they are paying their energy bills themselves.
This is especially likely for people who live in an apartment or home where the landlord holds the contract with the energy supplier, and the tenants just have sub-meters.
Sub-meters that allow them to know exactly how much energy they are using, and pay accordingly, but sub-meters that are not registered in their names.
As the €150 energy voucher in Austria can only be redeemed by people making under €55,000 a year (€110,000 for multi-person homes), and who have an electricity contract directly with a utility company, plus an individual meter number, that means some landlords are not eligible to apply for it due to their too-high-income, while some tenants cannot apply for it due to not being the person whose name is on the energy contract.
In some situations, this could leave people who make far less than €55,000 a year not being able to claim a €150 energy voucher in Austria.
A voucher they may just need in order to be able to afford to pay their energy bills at all.
Throw in that the only people eligible for the €150 energy voucher in Austria can only claim it if that specific address is their main residence, this also leaves people who are sharing apartments out in the cold, and whose landlord is the person with the energy contract.
Those people will not be eligible, as their names are not on the contract.
Meanwhile, the landlord is not eligible either, as the apartment he is renting out is not his main address.
Extension of deadline to apply for the €150 energy voucher in Austria
With these and other problems applying for the €150 energy voucher being experienced by a large number of people, the original end of August deadline has been extended for anyone who has not received their voucher in the mail.
They can now request a replacement voucher up until the end of October.
The deadline for redeeming the voucher has also been extended from the end of October to the end of December.
Time that will hopefully allow the vast majority of people with problems getting the voucher to sort it out.
After all, a €150 energy voucher is significant help paying energy bills for a large number of Austrians and Austria residents.
For people who really do need that help then, and miss the opportunity to get it, would be a shame.
If you are one of those with a problem getting the voucher, or if you want to check the status of your application, you can do so on the government’s website specifically set up for this purpose.
Source: Der Standard