The 25 Euro Discount on Bottled Gas for Low-Income Households Now Runs to the End of December

The 25 euro discount on bottled gas for low-income households will stay in place until the end of December. The Council of Ministers approved the extension on Thursday 24 September, a week before the support was due to end on 30 September, and the environment and energy minister, Maria da Graça Carvalho, said the measure will cost the State 5.7 million euros this year.

The scheme, now called the Botija Solidária (it began in 2022 as the Bilha Solidária), covers up to two gas bottles a month per eligible household. It started at 10 euros a bottle after Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed up energy prices. In March, with fuel prices climbing again because of the war in the Middle East, the prime minister announced in parliament that the discount would rise to 25 euros for three months. It was first extended to the end of September, and now to the end of the year.

"We hope that conditions then improve so that we do not have to continue this extraordinary increase," the minister said after the meeting. The State had spent 3.5 million euros on the scheme by the end of August and is adding about 2.5 million euros more, she said.

Who can claim it

According to the government, the support is open to:

• households that receive the social electricity tariff (Tarifa Social de Energia Elétrica);
• households in which at least one member receives one of the minimum social benefits listed in the scheme's rules: the solidarity supplement for older people (complemento solidário para idosos), the social integration income (rendimento social de inserção), the social disability pension under the special disability protection scheme, the supplement to the social inclusion benefit, the social old-age pension, or the social unemployment benefit.

Bottled gas is still what many homes without a piped gas connection use for cooking and hot water. In some places a bottle is already selling for more than 40 euros, SIC reported this week. The consumer association DECO has said the scheme has fallen short of expectations because of a lack of information and red tape, so households that qualify but have never used it may want to ask about it where they usually buy their gas.

Hauliers and bus companies

The same Council of Ministers also approved an extraordinary regime for road transport companies. Support had already been created (30 million euros according to Lusa, 35 million according to ECO) for passenger and freight operators hit by the fuel increases, but some could not reach it because of the European Union's de minimis limits on State aid. The new regime is meant to ensure the money reaches every operator "without exception".

"From today we ensure that each carrier can have support corresponding to up to 70 percent of the increase in fuel," the minister said. Freight companies have also been given three more months to pay Social Security contributions due for May, June and July, and from October they may set up an interest-free instalment plan.

On the same day, parliament rejected every opposition proposal to cut VAT on fuel or food, after warnings from the finance minister about the cost to the public accounts.