The fact that electricity prices are higher than usual is, as is well known, due to the high wholesale prices. These are compensated by government measures, such as lower VAT. The government’s intervention also explains why Belgian households pay less for natural gas than in other countries. In addition, the network costs, levies and surcharges are lower than those of the neighbours.
The comparative study commissioned by the CREG also shows that Belgian families with an average income spend 6.7 percent of their income (after deduction of housing costs) on energy bills. Only France does better in this area. This is 7 percent for families with the lowest incomes. In doing so, we are doing better than all our neighboring countries.
Conclusions have also been drawn about energy prices at companies. In Belgium, the costs for companies connected to the low and medium voltage grid are lower than in neighboring countries. If a company uses a lot of electricity, the cost price is usually higher. The natural gas bill for Belgian companies is in line with neighboring countries and even lower for smaller companies.
The study looked at the prices of January 2023 for companies. For families, they looked at February 2023.