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The prices of electricity and natural gas have risen sharply in the past month. The energy regulator Creg has calculated this. On average, prices added between 40 and 60 percent, depending on the contract.
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jvhSource: BELGIAN
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Compared to December last year, energy prices rose on average by 49 percent in January for variable electricity contracts and by 42 percent for fixed contracts. For natural gas, this is an increase of 59 percent for variable contracts and 55 percent for fixed contracts.
This concerns the energy component that is rising sharply, i.e. the raw material electricity and natural gas. But the total bill of the families will logically also rise sharply. For electricity, the energy component now accounts for half of the bill, for natural gas the energy component accounts for 70 percent of the bill.
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Just to be clear: the price increases apply to households that change suppliers or have a variable contract in January. Two-thirds of households have a fixed-price contract – so nothing changes for them.
According to the Creg, the new sharp price increases are the result of “very significant price increases” on the wholesale market in the last three months of last year. These are now filtering through to consumers’ rate cards. In addition, January is an indexation month for energy products, both for products that are indexed every month and every quarter. This means that the very large price increases in the markets have an effect on all variable products that are offered.
To alleviate the impact of energy bills on households, the federal government took a package of measures on Tuesday. The social rates are extended, the VAT on electricity is reduced and all families receive a heating premium of 100 euros.
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