This Monday, Maxime Binet received on the set of the show We need to talk Olivier Neirynck (technical director of the Belgian Federation of fuel and fuel traders), Test-Achats spokesperson Julie Frère and Nadia Geerts, essayist and columnist.
Also around the table, as columnists, were Alain Kupchik (artist), Julie Foulon (founder of “GIRLEEK”) and Alexis Carantonis (editor-in-chief of dhnet.be).
First subject addressed by the team on Monday, that of oil boilers. Are we heading towards the end of these, from 2024? The measure is in any case on the table of the Walloon government. For Olivier Neirynck, there is above all “a monumental hypocrisy” in the Walloon Air-Climate plan, because heating oil – which heats 58% of households in Wallonia – would be prohibited, and not gas. “While they are both fossil fuels,” he pointed out. Later, he added that the energy of tomorrow “will still be payable”, on several conditions.
On the set was then debated the subject of VAT on gas and electricity, which might rise to 21% in April, if there is no agreement in the Federal Parliament quickly. “It’s a hypothetical situation”, recalled Julie Frère, of Test-Achats, underlining the complexity of the agreement which must be recorded. “If we apply the reform (of excise duty, editor’s note) as it is planned today, it will be much more expensive for the consumer to heat with electricity than with gas. But it’s the opposite of what we’re trying to do, moving towards the electrification of society,” added Julie Frère, relaunching the debate on consumer bills.
Energy: Test Achats launches a petition to make variable contracts more readable and calls for the general return of fixed contracts
The cancel culture has finally arrived on the carpet, with the recent rewriting of the James Bond books. According to essayist Nadia Geerts, it is not by changing the words that you change a reality. She even put forward the word “negationism”, as we can see during the debate.