Premier: Cabinet Wants to Help Most Households with Gas Prices via Targeted Help

Bratislava, April 2 (TASR) - The government wants to help 60-80 percent of households via targeted help with gas prices next year, which means that there will be significantly more households that will receive help than those that will not, stated Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) on Wednesday after a meeting with representatives of state-owned gas utility SPP, with Vice-premier and Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD) in attendance. "We have two options, we could return to the proven model that we used in 2024 for 2025, when we compensated gas and electricity prices for households across the board. It was very expensive, but we managed it the first time. We're also working on the concept of targeting, under which a proportion of households, given the high incomes of their members and perhaps above-standard consumption, would be excluded from across-the-board assistance. Then maybe only 70-80 percent of households would be included in the blanket assistance," said the prime minister. "But we won't allow people who have average and below average incomes to be threatened with higher gas and electricity prices," said the premier, adding that stable, secure gas prices and supplies for Slovak households will be guaranteed in 2026 as well. "We'll do everything we can to ensure that Slovak households and Slovak industry have enough gas and at reasonable prices. We're working on a project of targeted assistance. We want it to be as fair as possible, to reach the part of the population that needs it. I hope that it won't cost the state budget so much," emphasised Sakova. The premier stressed that it's too soon to talk about the details of the energy assistance. am/df