News item | 22-02-2023 | 5:05 PM
For the coming years, the government will investigate whether and which specific measures can be taken if energy prices remain high. The aim is to support households that are vulnerable to high energy prices as much as possible after 2023 as well.
The exploration focuses on various groups of measures, namely: options within the existing purchasing power measures and specific minimum schemes, energy tax, an energy surcharge, a more targeted form of price ceiling, measures on the energy market and lowering the costs of tenants. Options are also being examined to make homes of vulnerable households with energy poverty more sustainable more quickly.
Last year, the cabinet introduced a historically large package of generic purchasing power measures. This was necessary to limit uncertainty for households and to prevent households from being unable to make ends meet. Research shows that these measures are working, and that the price cap has reduced uncertainty for households. At the same time, there has been more calm due to the falling gas prices. However, generic measures put pressure on public finances, can stand in the way of sustainability and further fuel inflation.
The government will decide in the spring memorandum on which measures will be used to develop the policy in time for implementation in 2024. The government will therefore discuss this with the House of Representatives. The dimensions of the measures will be finalized in August, simultaneously with decisions on purchasing power. The feasibility of the measures is important here, because the implementation capacity of the government’s implementing agencies is limited. The introduction of new measures can displace the implementation of other policies. Some measures may therefore ultimately prove impossible to implement in the short term.