The government is pushing to expand the recipients of the "energy voucher" to all households receiving basic livelihood benefits, according to reports on the 17th. Currently, 70% of basic-benefit households receive an energy voucher. The expansion of energy voucher payments to basic-benefit households is expected to proceed as one of the supplementary budget projects prompted by high oil prices stemming from the Middle East situation.
An energy voucher is a coupon that can be used for heating and cooling energy expense such as electricity, gas, district heating, kerosene, LPG, and coal briquettes. It provides 295,200 won for a one-person household, 407,500 won for a two-person household, 532,700 won for a three-person household, and 701,300 won for a household of four or more. It can be used for one year, from July each year to May of the following year.
However, among basic-benefit households, only those that include at least one of the following may apply for an energy voucher: ◇ older adult ◇ infant ◇ person with a disability ◇ pregnant person ◇ patient with a severe disease, a rare disease, or a severe intractable disease ◇ single-parent family ◇ child-headed household ◇ multi-child household.
Accordingly, only 1.4 million households, or 70% of all basic-benefit households (2,013,319 households), can receive an energy voucher. If the government expands the recipients to all basic-benefit households, an additional 610,000 or so households would become eligible to receive an energy voucher.
Earlier, in Jan. 2023, when energy prices surged due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the government expanded the energy voucher program by injecting 180 billion won, including reserve funds. At that time, it doubled the voucher support amount for January to March.
Meanwhile, 477 billion won has been allocated for energy vouchers usable through May this year, and about 70% (about 350 billion won) of that is said to have already been exhausted. To expand the recipients to all basic-benefit households, an additional annual budget of 210 billion won is needed.
The size of this high oil price supplementary budget is expected to be around 15 trillion won. The Ministry of Planning and Budget's policy is to fund the supplementary budget with excess tax revenue without issuing Government Bonds.