2024-04-02 20:13:37
April 2, 2024 Today at 10:11 p.m.
The reform of the social energy tariff will no longer be for this legislature, even if Parliament continues to work on the subject. Significant obstacles present themselves.
“The establishment of a federal database is a prerequisite for a differentiated social rate. However, the date of its entry into force is not yet known. There is still a lot of work“, explained Sigrid Jourdain, director in charge of price control at Creg, the energy sector regulator, during her hearing in the energy committee this Tuesday in the House.
“The establishment of a federal database is a sine qua non condition. However, there is still a lot of work.”
Sigrid Jourdain
Director at Creg
We know it: the social tariff reform for electricity, gas and heat will not be more for this legislature. The preliminary bill tabled by the Minister of Energy, Tinne Van der Strateten (Groen), was rejected during the budgetary conclave last October, because it required releasing an additional budget. But the funding issue is not the only obstacle which stands in the way of reform of the social tariff, the interventions of the experts showed.
Patent defects
On the need for reform, almost everyone agrees. The expanded social tariff, decided during the covid crisis then extended during the energy crisis, which allowed nearly 500,000 additional households to see their gas and electricity bills reduced by several hundred euros per year, took ends July 1, 2023.
But the flaws of the current system are obvious. Its grant is linked to a status, and not to a level of income. There can therefore be unequal treatment between households with identical incomes.
Another problem: it’s all or nothing. And intermediate social tariff would provide financial support for those who earn little, by providing them with a differential compared to those who do not work. Some also plead for a social tariff limited to a certain quantity of kWhto encourage energy savings.
The CD&V and Vlaams Belang have tabled motions for resolutions on the matter, while Ecolo-Groen has tabled a bill.
A database that is slow
The three texts defend the idea of a open right based on income, which the Creg welcomes. She insists, just like the associations defending the most vulnerable, on the importance of a right as automated as possible – otherwise, not everyone asserts their rights. One solution is to use the same method as for granting the increased intervention for health care (BIM status).
The Creg also considers that it would be necessary to take into account the household compositionwhich requires this famous federal database, which is still at a preparatory stage. It is therefore impossible, in short, to have a system based on this database within a few months.
The platform for combating energy poverty also emphasizes that it is for degression of the social tariffto counter threshold effects, but there is no no consensus on how to do it. “It has to be technically feasible, and easy to explain,” summarizes Margaux Feron, of Sia Partners, who advises this platform.
“A reduction in the social tariff? It must be technically feasible and easy to explain.”
Margaux Feron
Sia Partners
Febeg, the federation which brings together energy suppliers, points out the problem of those who heat themselves with oil or pellets. She is also worried aboutcompensation of suppliers.
Stefan Goemare, socio-cultural administrator at Saamo, points out the problem of collective heating, who do not benefit from the social tariff. But there, a response is planned in the form of a ‘social tariff’ bonus, which should be adopted before the dissolution of parliament.
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