Energy Allowance Paid Incorrectly Due to a Processing Error
Municipalities pay out the energy allowance on behalf of the national government. Errors occurred during the payment of the second round of the 2023 energy allowance to residents of Leidschendam-Voorburg, Voorschoten, and Wassenaar. In total, 322 residents of the three municipalities received the energy allowance, even though they were not actually entitled to it. The residents in question will receive a letter of apology and a request to repay the money. The municipalities will not seek to recover the funds.
Residents affected by this issue will receive a letter of apology from the municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg next week. The payment was made in December 2023. Because the municipality transferred the money in error and the payment was made a long time ago, we are asking residents to return the money. The municipality will not take any active steps to collect the money. We want to prevent residents from getting into trouble because of the municipality’s actions. We also want to avoid a situation where residents might hesitate to ask for help as a result.
Cause
The erroneous payments were made to residents whose income exceeded the income threshold set for the energy allowance. This error resulted from manual data processing. We worked hard to process the energy allowance payments, and in the vast majority of cases, everything went smoothly. We regret that inaccuracies occurred.
Research
An investigation was conducted in collaboration with the Central Government Intelligence Bureau. The investigation examined what went wrong and how many residents were affected. The results of this investigation will be used to prevent such inaccuracies in the future.
Despite the incorrect payments, this is expected to fall within the budgeted funds for the 2023 energy allowance.