Home Heating Social Assistance in Bulgaria

Updated on 26 September 2023

If you live in Bulgaria and you have: 

• A refugee or humanitarian status  

• temporary protection  

• A long-term or permanent residence permit  

You can apply for home heating assistance in Bulgaria 

What is a “home heating assistance”? 

This is one-time financial assistance, which will help you pay your heating expenses.  

You can receive this help for a period of five months - from 1 November to 31 March. 

The amount of financial help that you can receive is 109.39 BGN per month or BGN 546.95 for the entire period.  

Important! If you have children of school age, but they do not attend school without a valid reason (e.g. health condition, disability), the heating assistance will be reduced.  

What are the requirements? 

There are several requirements you need to meet to be able to receive this assistance: 

1. You need to prove that your and your family’s average monthly income in the last 6 months was lower or equal to:  

• 279,72 leva - if you live alone 

• 260,06 leva - if you live with another person or family and for each of the spouses that live together (total of 520, 12 leva for the two of you) 

• 196,56 leva- if you are under 20 and attending school 

• 272,16 leva- if you are a pregnant woman (45 days before giving birth) or a parent, raising a child up to 3 years old 

• 272,16 leva – if you are a single parent of a child attending school 

In case you fall under another category, ask your Regional Social Assistance Department for more information. 

2. if you are unemployed, you need to have been registered at the Employment Bureau at least 3 months before you submit your application!  

3. In addition, you are also obliged to meet the following requirements: 

• In case you own a home and you are not renting, this home must be your only property. 

• You must not be a sole proprietor and you must not be a shareholder in a company. 

• You must not have claims, property income, deposits, shares or securities whose total value is more than 504,00 leva for each person or each family member. 

• You must not have a contract that gives you the right to receive a property in exchange for maintenance and/or care obligation; this requirement does not apply in cases where the persons providing the maintenance and/or care are students, unemployed, retired or disabled; 

• You have not transferred residential/cottage/agricultural/forestry property in return for payment or free of charge in the last 2 years and the total amount of the deals must not be over 3 628,80 leva.  

When can I apply? 

You can apply for home heating assistance between 1.07.2023 and 31.10.2023.  

After you apply a social worker will examine your application within 20 days and issue a report. Within 7 days after the report has been submitted to the Director of the Regional Social Assistance Department, they will issue an order either allowing you or rejecting you the assistance.  

Necessary documents 

1. An application form.  You can download it from this link.  

In the application you need to point out the type of heating that you use - heat, electricity, solid fuel or natural gas. 

2. If you use electricity, you also need to provide your current customer/subscriber number associated with the electric company that you use.  

3. Documents that provide information about your income such as: 

• Labor contracts or civil contracts or any other contract showing that you have received income; 
•  Documents for work done in the field of agriculture, forestry or water industry 
• Scholarships 
• Other sources of income such as pensions, other social support etc. 

4. Your Bulgarian identification document and your temporary protection card (if you have one). 

5. A medical clearance or a protocol issued by a Medical Advisory Committee, if you/your family members have a disability recognized by the state.  

6. Other documents can also be requested from you depending on your individual case.  

Where can I apply? 

You can apply for this assistance at the Regional Social Assistance Department (RSAD) in Bulgaria corresponding to your permanent address: 

• By going in-person in the offices of the RSAD. You can find information about the location and contacts of your Regional Social Assistance Department here. 

• Via local post offices with priority mail. 

The benefits are received in cash by the eligible person/household in their preferred payment method or by the solid fuel trader when this has been expressly declared by the person/household in question.  

What do I do if my application is rejected?  

If your application is rejected, you have the right to appeal against the negative decision before the Director of the Regional Social Assistance Directorate (RSAD) within 14 days of the day that it was made known to you. 

If the rejection is silent – this means that you have not been given a written paper with the reasons for rejection, then you can file the appeal within 1 month from the expiry of the period in which RSAD was obliged to issue a final decision (approximately 27 days from the day you filed your application). 

When the Director has made a decision on your application on the merits, or when your appeal has been dismissed or not even reviewed, you can file an appeal before the competent administrative court within 14 days.  

The decision of the administrative court is final.  

Contact a lawyer as soon as possible so that they can help you file the appeal on time.  

The Foundation for Access to Rights – FAR can also help you with the appeal or with any other issues that you may have in the application procedure for home heating assistance. Contact us through this form: 

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