Madrid has definitively entered the pre-campaign phase without waiting for the formal end of the legislature. The controversy over the collection of the thermal social bonus for vulnerable families by several high-income political leaders has unleashed a crossroads of accusations, attacks and resignation petitions that anticipate dog-faced elections between the respective candidates of the forces of the left and right.
But, what has happened so that leaders like the vice president of the community, Enrique Ossorio, receive aid despite having a salary of more than 100,000 euros and a declared heritage of close to a million and a half euros? What criteria apply to grant these aids? In this article you will find the answers to all the questions about the controversy that has agitated Madrid politics.
The electric social bond is a mechanism launched by the Government on July 1, 2009 to protect vulnerable consumers and that helps to partially cover the costs of heating, hot water and cooking.
This mechanism was created with the entry into force of Royal Decree-Law 15/2018, of October 5 by the Government of Spain and is managed through the Autonomous Communities with the marketing companies.
The minimum aid is set at 40 euros. But from there, and based on the degree of vulnerability of the home, the amount can reach 400 euros per year.
People who have contracted a regulated rate or PVPC with their reference marketer are entitled to it, that is, with a power equal to or less than 10 kilowatts (kW), and who meet various personal, family and income requirements.
In the Community of Madrid, more than 137,346 households benefited in 2022 from the thermal social bonus, which had a total budget of 70 million euros.
A vulnerable consumer will receive a 25% discount -which, exceptionally, reaches 65% until next December 31- if the income level of the cohabitation unit is equal to or less than 1.5 times the IPREM of 14 payments (12,600 euros per year).
If the coexistence unit is made up of two adults, the economic criterion is set at 16,380 euros per year.
The figure rises to 22,600 euros when the household is made up of an adult and a child.
At 25,200 euros if it is a household with one adult and two minors.
Like them, or as in the case of the beneficiaries of the Minimum Vital Income (IMV), those who hold the title of large family are also vulnerable, although in the latter case no other additional criteria are established.
If you have the title of large family, the cohabitation unit must receive an annual income equal to or less than twice the IPREM of 14 payments, 16,800 euros.
The vice president of the Community of Madrid and spokesperson for the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, Enrique Ossorio, as well as the spokeswoman for Más Madrid, Mónica García, and that of Vox, Rocío Monasterio, among other Madrid politicians, receive this type of aid for having large family card
Not necessarily, since those residents and families who are also eligible for the social electricity bonus dated before December 31 of the last year receive it automatically or who have obtained a favorable resolution for their application before that date.
This is the case, as they have declared, of the aforementioned politicians. Something that the PP and Vox see as "perfectly ethical" while the left-wing parties criticize the understanding that this aid should only be provided to the most needy families. Hence, García has announced his intention to return it.
In view of the controversy, the Government spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, has admitted that the Executive is studying establishing maximum income limits for the access of large families to the social electricity bonus, to prevent "people who do not need it" from having it " and with "absence of ethics".
In this sense, Minister Ribera has ensured that the reform being studied will be simple and has indicated, as a guide, that the maximum income level to receive it will be slightly higher than that established for the units of coexistence of 4 or 5 members, which It is around 25,000-26,000 euros per year.
