Report on one-off payment to citizens affected by surging energy prices

01-06-2023

Report no. 18/2022

The purpose of the study is to assess whether the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities has implemented the one-off payment in a satisfactory manner. The report answers the following questions: 

  • Did the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities document the risks associated with the solution chosen and consider other data sources before the bill on the one-off payment was enacted.
  • Did the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities ensure that relevant checks of the automatic payment solution were carried out?
  • How many households outside the intended target group received the one-off payment? 

It is Rigsrevisionen’s assessment that the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities has documented the ministry’s considerations on method, data sources, risk and sources of error concern-ing the one-off payment, and this is considered satisfactory by Rigsrevisionen. Before the enactment of the one-off payment, the government in-formed the Folketing that the automatic payment solution was affected by several sources of error concerning identification of the eligible recipients. The ministry carried out several relevant controls in connection with the implementation but failed to check the calculation of household income adequately, which is not considered satisfactory by Rigsrevisionen. As a consequence, several households received the one-off payment without being eligible.

Read the introduction and conclusion (PDF)