‘Students, apply for the energy surcharge’
If it’s up to the government, students won’t get an energy allowance. The Landelijke Studentenvakbond advises students to apply for it anyway. It could potentially save them 800 euros. The energy allowance is meant to help people with a small budget pay the rising energy bills. The Cabinet advised municipalities not to give students these 800 euros, because as a group they would be too diverse, among other things, in terms of their housing situation.
The LSVb does not understand this and legal experts doubt whether this decision will stand up in court. According to them, students as a group cannot be excluded just like that. That is why you should apply for the supplementary grant at your municipality, advises LSVb president Ama Boahene to students, because only if the application is rejected can you ultimately appeal to the courts. The student union is happy to help individual students. “Even if it is only one student who files a lawsuit and is proven right, it will set a precedent for others”, she expects. The LSVb does not exclude a group lawsuit either.
In Groningen, a group of twenty students has asked the municipality for the allowance after all, writes the university magazine UKrant. If the municipality refuses, they are considering taking legal action. (HOP, Josefine van Enk)
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