[Diarypoint=Kim Jong-un] The government first contacts the vulnerable households in which energy buffer support was interrupted due to the change in the number of directors or generations and helps with the re-application. The Ministry of Climate Energy and Environment announced a winter-high-level support measure including the “Energy buffer search service” on November 10th. The service target is about 25,000 households with no support, and until March next year the council will call the re-application doctor to verify and obtain consent after the subordinate official will handle the application.
The existing energy voucher is the way in which the applicant applies to the township or welfare center. This year the deadline for applying is December 31, and last year the provider can be automatically registered if there is no change in qualification. The new service is not a continuous reception window instead of a general application, but a procedure to help find houses where support has been interrupted by directors and so on.
Depending on terms and conditions of support.
Energy buffers are targeted at one or more of the subsistence, medical, housing, and educational benefits, and the elderly, the young, the disabled, the pregnant, the severely ill, the severely ill, the single-parent family, the young girl family or the generation with a family of many children.
2026 support is based on the number of people registered on the list of generations: 1 in 295200, 2 in 407500, 3 in 532700 and 4 in 701300. The voucher can be used until May 31, 2027, and can be used as electricity, urban gas and local emigration fee reduction or national happiness card payment method.
Hard to use in cash.
New pre-payment schemes have been introduced for households with difficult direct payments including energy costs during the month. Approximately 5,300 households applied until the end of October will be paid on their own account on November 12th, and subsequent applications will undergo post-payment procedures after the end of the voucher period this year. Applications will be received until May 31, 2027.
Visitors and social welfare agencies provide guidance on the issuance and use of cards, as well as ways to use them according to the housing situation. Visitors and social welfare agencies support up to 122,000 households, up from 59,000 unused households last year.
Approximately 21,000 households with an energy voucher that uses yuan or LPG as primary heating fuel will receive an additional 147,000 won, regardless of the number of generations. Additional vouchers will be paid through the National Happiness Card as of December 9, and will last until May 31, 2027.