The social bond of light is an aid offered by the government for people with fewer financial resources to pay their electric bills. To benefit from the social bond is essential to meet a number of requirements regarding the level of income and family status, and the request must be handled directly with Comercializadora Reference.

Who can ask the social bond of light?

El Light social bond It is intended for people with a difficult economic situation to pay their electricity bills more comfortably. This assistance is provided by the Government so that families can benefit from discount on electricity bills.

The people who can ask the social bond are the vulnerable consumers. The rules of social bono October 2017, el Royal Decree 897/2017 de 7 October, It indicates that this consideration is given to those who meet certain requirements regarding their family situation and their level of annual income.

Do you want to see the rules of the social bond?You can access the social bonus regulations through both the BOE and laCNMC website and on the website Ministry of energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda.

This new regulation maintains the basic requirements of social bond, What are they:

• be the headline Light contract.
• Have hired the VBAC rate, el Volunteer Small Consumer price.
• Have a lower contracted power of 10 kW.
• Ask the social bonus for Habitual housing of the family.

The main difference that includes the new social bond is accepted that the general conditions above (like being unemployed, pensioner of any kind or have the social bond contracted power very low) become obsolete.

Requirements to order the electric social bond

The electrical requirements to have social bond focus on family type and level of annual rent. Under these conditions, every family unit (which is like the group of people who depends on a same salary is designated) It may be considered vulnerable consumers, severe consumer vulnerable o Severe vulnerable consumers at risk of social exclusion.

Households may be composed of a single person, couples without children or persons with dependent children. Además, are included special conditions allowing benefit from a greater margin of permissible income: or above the disability 33%, victims of terrorism and victims of gender violence.

At the same time, there are people who have secured their access to aid, regardless of income level:

• The large families, both general and special range.
• The pensioners retirement or permanent disability they receive the minimum benefit in its category.

To find out if you can apply the electric Social Bono depending on your income and personal situation can check the table below all possible requirements.

How you belong to Social Bono? Depending on the situation you can purchase an aid for higher or lower social bond. In the next section you can calculate the percentage discount will apply according to your personal situation.

Simulator application of social bond: Calculate your discount

Currently there is a application that lets you know if a user is entitled to social bonus depending on the conditions met. Using this simulator, all customers can check whether they can be considered vulnerable consumers, severe consumer vulnerable o Severe vulnerable at risk of social exclusion. This will determine what discount you can access on their electricity bills.

El simulator social bond It has been developed in collaboration with the National Commission for Markets and Competition, which closely monitors the activities within the energy sector respect the current regulations.

Además, all consumers can obtain information about their right to social bono through your local social services.

What does the electricity social discount voucher?

The new social bond of light includes two discount rates, assigned depending on the category of vulnerable consumers corresponding. Should be noted that in the case of Severe vulnerable consumers at risk of social exclusion, users will not have to pay in any case the amount of your electricity bill. This will be subsidized to 100% by the Public Administration and the companies themselves.

El social discount voucher It is applied to the total electricity bill before adding taxes. That is to say, about him Power term and the term consumer, what you pay for contracted power and electricity consumption. But nevertheless, It does not apply in the same way in both concepts, since the new social bond includes limits on the consumption of electricity subsidized.

When you start to apply the social bond?

Once the application admissible light of the social bond, the company has 15 days to respond to consumer. After this period, Reference the Distributor must notify you if you qualify or not to help or if necessary to remedy some kind of error related to your request, as missing documentation to deliver.

The application of the electric social bond It viewed from the day on which the request was admissible completely, once errors remedied and all documentation is provided. This means that although the discount is to start applying in subsequent bills, They should include the reduction corresponding to the previous bill that reached the consumer during the processing time.

When it is necessary to provide new documentation, the company has other 15 days from which the request is complete to give a definitive answer.

If the answer of the company, in any case, out refusal to grant aid, the consumer can make a complaint to request a further review of your circumstances.

Consumption limits of the social bond

El social discount voucher electricity on the term consumption is performed on a specific amount of energy, which varies depending on the situation of the household.

The inclusion of consumption limits of the social bond It does not mean that users can make use of a smaller amount of energy in their daily lives, but the electricity consumed above the limit will be charged at VBAC price without discount.

You see what total discount would apply monthly bill light of a family with two children, 4,6kW power contracted and consumption 500 kWh / my. The amount has been calculated taking into account the average prices of VBAC in 2018.

In this table both of subsidized energy as the part that is above the limit includes, they simply are billed at the normal price of VBAC undiscounted.

Companies with which you can ask the social bond

Social management bonus depends on electricity Light companies They are operating in the regulated market. These are also the electrical marketers offering VBAC.

Actualmente, there are eight Reference Comercializadoras in Spain, as, to be recognized as such must meet a number of requirements of the Government.

Below is a table that you can directly access the new information social bond with each company.

Reference Comercializadoras
	Gas Natural S.U.R., SDG, S.A.
	Iberdrola Marketing of last resort, S.A.U.
	Endesa Energía XXI, S.L.U.
	Viesgo Reference Marketer, S.L.
	EDP ​​Marketer of Last Resort, S.A.
	CHC Energía Comercializador de Reference S.L.U.
	Ceuta Electric Lighting Company Reference Marketing, S.A., in Ceuta
	Teramelcor, S.L., in Melilla

How to apply for the social bonus?

The social bonus application must be done directly with the chosen Reference Marketer, For this, the application form and the necessary documentation must be sent to prove that the required conditions are met.

El social bonus application form is unique to each company, since it has to contain the identification and tax data of each marketer. To get the one that interests us, It must be downloaded directly from the web or it can be collected directly at a commercial office of the company.

Once the necessary documentation has been gathered and the form has been completed, the request can be formalized through any of the channels that the company makes available to users. Some Reference Marketers allow it to be sent in multiple ways, while others are limited to one or two.

In case of doubt, It is always advisable to contact the Reference Marketer by phone so that they can indicate the best way to make the request in each case.. In general, Contact information for each company can be found on their respective web pages.

Documentation to receive social bond

For ask for the social bonus It is necessary to provide the company with the information that demonstrates that the requirements to benefit from the aid are met. This documentation may vary according to the characteristics of each family unit.

Además, for now it may be necessary to deliver a copy of the last income statement, since the telematics platform that the Government makes available to companies is not fully implemented. It is also possible to deliver a certificate of imputations issued by the Tax Agency, which must reflect the income of each person in the family unit during the previous year.

• Documentation necessary to request the social bonus
• DNI of the contract holder, who is requesting the help
• DNI of minors who have more than 14 years
• Certificate of registration in the home of all members of the family unit
• Family Book
• Large Family Title, if this condition exists
• Certificate issued by Social Security if a minimum pension is received
• Certificate of social services when special situations apply such as disability equal to or greater than 33%, victims of terrorism or victims of gender violence

Duration of the social bond

The new social bond has a valid for two years. This duration applies to all vulnerable consumers with the exception of the large families. The social bond for large families has the same duration as the title that grants this condition.

The duration of the social bonus is extended as long as the conditions of the family unit do not change, Well, if for any reason they mean the loss of the right to benefit from the aid, Consumers are obliged to communicate this themselves to the electricity company. To make this information update (which can also involve a change simply in the applicable discount rate), necessary send a letter to the Reference Marketer within a period of 30 days since the change occurs.

When renewing the social bond

The renewal of social bond is necessary to continue enjoying this help when, for admissible reasons, the discount is going to stop applying.

The situations in which the social bonus must be renewed are:

1. When the aid application ends at the age of two.
2. And, being a large family, the card of this condition must be renewed.

In any case, if the deadline for renewal is exceeded, the consumer can reapply later. Yes indeed, To continue uninterruptedly with the application of the discount, it must be done within the deadline, it is the only way to guarantee it.

Can you lose the social bond?

To benefit from the social bonus discount, it is necessary to maintain compliance with the conditions of its application. So, it's possible lose the social bonus and:

• The conditions for accessing help are no longer met.
• The social bonus is not renewed within the term, so it stops applying until a new request is made.

Además, with the change of regulations of the new social bond, there are certain groups that will lose the social bonus because they do not comply with the new requirements.

Social bonus for large families

The new social bond maintains aid to all large families, whether general or special. En este caso, the discount of social bonus for large families it is applied on a consumption limit established by its condition, regardless of the number of members of the family unit.

Pensioners social bonus

One of the novelties of the social bonus regulations 2019 is the type of pensions required to access the social bonus per pensioner. En este caso, the benefits admitted are:

1. Minimum retirement pensions
2. Minimum pensions for permanent disability

Thus, all pensioners who had the social bonus for other types of benefits (as widowhood or non-contributory), they will stop receiving aid for this reason. En este caso, these users must renew the social bonus for the general category so that your application is accepted based on your annual income level.

El social bonus per pensioner has been one of the most criticized with the approval of the new social bond, since the consumption limit applicable to all these users will be different from the one, At first, it would correspond to them.

No obstante, In this case, the aid can be requested in any case in which the minimum benefit is received. That is to say, you can order the retirement social bonus early, for instance, as long as

Social bonus for power

The previous regulation contemplated the application of the social bonus for contracted power less than 3kW. To these users, the discount was made directly in the invoices for the mere fact of having less than 3kW of hired potency.

But nevertheless, en 2019 the social bonus for potency is not included as one of the possibilities to access help. For this reason, all users who had the social bonus for contracted power less than 3kW must check if they meet the requirements and renew the social bonus for the income level.

Social bonus for disability

El social disability bonus, as such, does not exist. No obstante, a special situation is considered to be the fact that the holder of the electricity contract or one of the members of his family unit has a recognized disability equal to or greater than 33%. This allows these families to benefit from a wider income threshold to facilitate their access to assistance when there are added difficulties..

In case you want to apply for the social bonus with disability, It will be necessary to provide the certificate from the social services that proves compliance with this condition, although it will not need to be nominative.

Unemployed social bond

The light supply does not have a social bonus for the unemployed. Although it is true that the old regulations considered the unemployment situation as a direct beneficiary of the aid, the social bond of 2019 no longer includes this case as a condition to apply the discount.

As with pensioners and people who had the social bonus for contracted power, This group of users must renew the social bonus through the general annual income scheme so that the discount can continue to be applied., as long as they meet the requirements of the new social bonus.

Can I ask the social bond or thermal gas?

Like the social bond of light, el thermal or gas social bonus enables the most vulnerable consumers to benefit from a discount on gas bills.

This aid has a long history in Europe, where the gas supply is essential especially in winter and in cold seasons, when it is necessary to maintain the warm conditions of the home. But nevertheless, in Spain the granting of this type of aid is not yet regulated, since the natural gas not considered a basic supply.

While the social bonus of light is a help that users receive on a monthly basis, this new thermal social bonus will be received once a year. According to official sources, The amount of this aid will be received during the first quarter of each year and will be paid for by the General State Budgets. On 2019 this financial aid will be made for the first time in Spain.

Who can benefit from the Thermal Social Bonus?The users who can benefit from this social gas voucher are those who are covered by the PVPC electricity tariff and receive the help of the social electricity voucher to 31 December of the previous year, regardless of whether the gas rate they have contracted belongs to the free market or the rate TUR gas regulated market.

The minimum amount that each of your beneficiaries will receive depends on different factors, the minimum guaranteed amount being € 25 per year. Depending on the degree of vulnerability of the user, of the area of ​​residence and its climatic conditions, this aid will be increased in the following ways: