In response to questions from the House of Representatives Committee on Social Affairs and Employment, Ministers Van Gennip and Schouten explained how the compensation for the increased energy costs in the Caribbean Netherlands has been shaped:

For the Caribbean Netherlands (CN), similar starting points have been used for the calculation of the required amount as for the one-off energy surcharge for the European Netherlands, whereby a translation into the context of CN has been made. In the European Netherlands, the target group is the total number of households with an income of up to 120 percent of the social minimum. For CN, this is approximately 3,850 households or 39 percent of all households in CN. In the European Netherlands, the recommended amount is 800 euros per household. In CN, the same amount was used for the calculation (converted) (approx. $ 850).

The EUR 3.4 million in funds is an increase on top of the EUR 1 million already made available for CN when there was still a fee of EUR 200 per household. Of the 3.4 million euros, € 2.3 million has been made available to finance the additional increase of 600 euros per household, so that the total amount per household comes to 800 euros.

The reserved amount of 1.1 million euros offers the public entities of Bonaire, Saba, and St Eustatius the space to offer targeted, additional support to households. This is motivated by the idea that, as long as the benchmark for the social minimum in CN has not yet been realized, the poverty problem in CN is basically greater than in the European Netherlands.

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