People’s coping with high electricity and heating costs was discussed in the Riigikogu

The agenda of the Riigikogu included a Bill and four interpellations.

Prime Minister Kristen Michal replied to the interpellation concerning people’s coping with high electricity and heating costs (No. 911), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Lauri Laats, Vadim Belobrovtsev, Vladimir Arhipov, Peeter Ernits and Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart.

The interpellators wanted to know what specific measures the Government had planned or already implemented to mitigate the impact of high electricity and heating costs on private consumers, including low-income households, the elderly, and families with children.

Michal explained that, in 2025, the Government had made decisions that supported economic growth and residents’ livelihoods through the following measures. “First of all, the biggest income tax cut in history, thanks to which the net income of the average wage earner increased by nearly 10% every month. According to Eesti Pank’s estimates, the rate of real disposable income of households will grow by approximately 5% in 2026. Price growth is slowing down and the already mentioned disposable income exempt from income tax has increased. Second, the increase in the minimum monthly wage to EUR 946, an increase of nearly 7%.  Third, the average old-age pension increased to EUR 860; the rise is outpacing the projected price growth. And we have increased the subsistence benefit by 10% and have taken into account the possibility—which has also been discussed in previous debates here—that the subsistence benefit will continue to rise in the coming years,” the Prime Minister explained.

He added that, in addition to measures to improve livelihoods, they had also taken steps to increase the supply of renewable energy. In March, the government made a decision to hold a new renewable energy reverse auction which would support the production of onshore wind farms in the amount of one terawatt-hour per year, with the possibility of increasing it to up to two terawatt-hours per year. “A wind power incentive for local governments is being developed. It will be possible to apply for a subsidy if at least eight wind turbines are in spatial planning.  The subsidy will be divided between the bringing of a spatial plan into effect and the issuance of a building permit. A wind power incentive of a million will be granted starting from eight wind turbines,” Michal said.

The Prime Minister pointed out that, in March this year, the government had submitted the Nuclear Energy and Safety Bill to the Riigikogu so that a nuclear power plant could be planned in Estonia in the future.  “Elering is continuing to build new controllable capacity, i.e. gas power plants, and the private sector is actively building storage capacity, i.e. battery energy storage systems,” the Prime Minister noted. 

According to Michal, the Government is monitoring developments in the armed conflict in the Middle East, which has significantly affected energy prices on the world market. “If necessary, we will consider various measures,” he said.

Prime Minister also replied to the interpellations concerning the prioritization of remote work and measures supporting its development (No. 940), energy price increases and people’s livelihoods (No. 942) and incitement of hatred and the spread of hate speech against women and LGBT+ people (No. 959).

A draft Resolution was rejected

The Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Making a proposal to the Government of the Republic to develop measures to mitigate fuel price increases” (842 OE), submitted by the Estonian Centre Party Group, was intended to make a proposal to the Government to lower the VAT rate applied to motor fuels to 13 percent for one year and to cancel the increase in fuel excise duty for several types of fuel planned to take effect on 1 May.

Vadim Belobrovtsev took the floor on behalf of the Centre Party Group during the debate.

The Resolution was not passed because 10 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of it. The support of at least 51 members of the Riigikogu was needed for the Resolution to be passed.

Vladimir Arhipov, Rain Epler and Peeter Ernits took the floor during the open microphone.

The sitting ended at 9.17 p.m.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

Video recording will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.

Riigikogu Press Service
Gunnar Paal
+372 631 6351, +372 5190 2837
[email protected]
Questions: [email protected]