The expensive energy is biting more and more in Belgium, where families are in difficulty in the face of rising bills. So much so that we have to ask more and more for solutions in installments to be sure that we are up to date with payments and avoid the risk of disconnection from the network. To tear the veil of secrecy are the energy supply companies, which without providing numbers and retail information, decide to come out on behalf of customers.
“More than double the Belgians have problems paying their energy bills” compared to a year ago, the alarm bell that comes from the operators. Greet Roosen, spokesman for TotalEnergies, the fourth largest energy supplier in Belgium (after Engie Electrabel, Luminus, Eneco), admits that “compared to a year ago, we have 2.5 times more requests for an installment plan”. While Mega, another supplier, notes increases in these requests even on a monthly basis. “In recent months” the share of customers who asked to spread bills and adjustments has grown from 1% to 2.5% of the families served by Mega. But the other suppliers also speak of “a significant increase” in requests for payment in installments.
A way to draw attention to general impoverishment, to which regional and federal politics will now have to find a remedy. Companies try to organize themselves. Faced with a growing demand for installments and alternative payment plans, solutions are sought that are useful for consumers and businesses.
The national energy regulator, Creg (Regulatory Commission for Energy and Gas), estimates that within a year, between July 2021 and July 2022, the electricity bill for families has gone from 1,000 euros to 1,600 euros l year, for increases of around 54%. An increase that explains the rush to pay the bill in installments. Not only. Dynamics that explain why national policy, first in favor of the shutdown of all nuclear reactors, has now established that the closure of the plants will have to wait. At stake are energy security, protection of families and therefore internal consumption, as well as re-election.
Belgium had chosen to radically change its procurement policy. With a view to abandoning nuclear power, it had invested in methane. But the Russian aggression of Ukraine, the sanctions that followed, the risk of a stop in supplies and the agreement reached in the EU for a reduction in purchases from Gazprom have called everything into question. Starting with families and their savings.