Shortly before the end of winter, students and technical students get the long-awaited 200-euro special payment for high heating and electricity costs. But things aren’t going smoothly with the application platform at the start.
With the application “still in winter” announced by the Federal Ministry of Education, it works like this: Five days before the start of spring, the application platform for the energy price flat rate of 200 euros for students and technical students was activated on Wednesday – however, at the beginning there were technical difficulties and problems for users.
Around three and a half million people affected are to be relieved of the increased heating and electricity costs with the money. “The processing of the applications and the payment will take place very quickly thanks to the automated process,” said Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger of the German Press Agency.
Patience put to the test
The patience of the students had been strained, according to the German Student Union. Now the application portal must also work for bulk business, said CEO Matthias Anbuhl of the dpa. “Winter will soon be over and it’s high time that this help reached the students.”
But first the patience of those who were eagerly waiting for the money was put to the test: The rush on the specially set up platform “Einmalzahlen200.de” was so great on Wednesday that the site was not for a short time a few hours after the start could be reached and gave an error message.
Holding out in the digital waiting room
Those affected later ended up in a digital waiting room, similar to a telephone waiting loop. On Twitter, others also reported problems logging in with the so-called BundID – a user account with the federal government that is a prerequisite for submitting an application. And not all of them had received the access code, which is also required for the site and which their educational institution has to provide them with, by Wednesday.
The federal and state governments had set up the application platform and, according to their own statements, previously tested it successfully with thousands of those affected.
Criticism came from education policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group, Thomas Jarzombek (CDU). The problems of the platform made the “disaster” complete. “After more than half a year of waiting for this “immediate program” there is no reason to celebrate.” Minister Stark-Watzinger should apologize to those affected.
The education policy spokeswoman for the FDP parliamentary group, Ria Schröder, rejected this: “If there is still jerking at one point or another at the beginning, then that is completely normal and tolerable. A supposed digital expert like Thomas Jarzombek should know that,” said she. Schröder was satisfied with the launch of the platform. She received a lot of positive feedback from students. The platform is already being used thousands of times and the digital process works. “The payment will be made within a few days.”
Dispute over identification
The traffic light coalition announced the energy price flat rate last September. At the time, there was talk of a quick and unbureaucratic payout. However, the implementation was difficult because it was unclear how the personal data and account data of the 3.5 million students and technical students from the many different educational institutions should be brought together so that a central payment can take place.
The federal and state governments got into arguments when they tried to build a platform on which those affected could identify themselves securely and unambiguously and on which the data available from educational institutions were brought together at the same time. It was about data protection, responsibilities and technical details. Student representatives and the opposition in the Bundestag had repeatedly criticized the slow process.
Recently there has also been criticism that all those affected have to get the BundID in order to clearly identify themselves when applying so that fraud is prevented. It has now been clarified that the BundID account does not necessarily require the online function of the identity card or an “Elster certificate” such as is used for online tax returns, but that simple access with a username and password is also created can be.
Deadline December 1, 2022
Students and technical students who were enrolled at a university or in a technical school as of December 1, 2022 can apply for the payment. A domicile or “habitual abode” in Germany is required. At technical schools, for example, educators, technicians and business economists are trained. The energy price flat rate should neither be taxed nor offset against any social benefits.
Source: Stern
