Energy voucher: 700,000 additional households will be eligible from May 1st

This week, the energy voucher is being sent out again. The Prime Minister's office announced that it will be sent to the 3,8 million households already identified, with an average amount of €153 per household. It's a small boost, but it makes a difference when energy bills are rising faster than wages. The government is allocating €600 million to this campaign, at a time when every price increase is visible, felt, and ultimately takes its toll on daily life.

From May 1st, the government is further expanding the scheme: 700,000 more households will be eligible, according to an announcement made on Monday, March 30th by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu on X. The trick, if you will, lies in "a complementary cross-referencing of data" to identify households that were falling through the net and not automatically receiving the aid.

A broader targeting system, without the need to fill out a form.

In practice, no action is required from beneficiaries; the check is sent automatically. It is intended for low-income households to help pay for energy expenses such as electricity, gas, heating oil, or wood, and can also, under certain conditions, contribute to some energy-efficiency renovations. The program, created in 2018, is based on the household's reference tax income and composition, which means the amount varies depending on individual circumstances.

The context remains, and it's not neutral: Sébastien Lecornu frames this distribution within a "rising fuel price context." For many, the energy voucher seems like a band-aid on a pressure that never truly subsides: the pressure of unavoidable expenses. The announced expansion demonstrates at least one thing: the government is seeking to better target its efforts at a time when the issue of purchasing power is becoming a permanent fixture in household budgeting and political decision-making.