Despite high electricity and gas prices, Belgian households might make big savings on their bills by switching to a cheaper supplier, according to a new study by the federal energy market regulator, the CREG, published on Monday.
The regulator examined the composition of the product portfolios of the various energy suppliers at the end of March and the savings potential for households. It shows that barely one household in ten in Belgium opts for one of the cheapest formulas.
In concrete terms, the ten most expensive electricity contract formulas represented 39% of customers in Wallonia (515,000 households), and the cheapest only 10% (130,000 households). For gas, these rates are respectively 36% (193,000 households) and 12% (64,000 households).
The figures are similar for Flanders.
In Brussels, the study focused on the five most expensive and the five least expensive. It concludes that, for electricity, the former represent 22% (95,000 households) and the latter 7% (29,000 households). For gas, these rates are 42% (125,000 households) and barely 2% (6,000 households).
According to the CREG, this means that the potential savings on an annual basis range, in Wallonia, from 100 to 360 euros for the electricity of 845,000 households, and from 125 to 540 euros for the gas of 200,000 households. In Brussels, these figures are 100 to 130 euros for electricity for 70,000 households, and 100 to 160 euros for gas for 44,000 households.
