Initially planned for the months of November and December only, this monthly bonus of 135 euros for gas and 61 euros for electricity was finally extended until March. It is therefore a total aid, substantial, of 980 € (675 € rebate on gas and 305 € on electricity). If, as regards 2022, eligible Belgians (must have a variable or fixed contract but signed following September 30, 2021; not have the social rate; etc.) have practically all received the deduction (probably in December , including the November bonus), for 2023, nothing has yet arrived on the accounts. For everyone, the installment invoice for the month of January has been paid in full.
Why you have not yet received the energy bonus on your January bill
Don’t worry, your supplier hasn’t forgotten regarding you. And all Belgians are housed in the same boat. The explanation: the suppliers have not yet received all the data needed to deduct this aid from their customers’ invoices. “We first need to exchange this data with the FPS Economy, which is scheduled for mid-February”, explains the spokesperson for Engie at the microphone of RTL Info.
“We are going to send the files of the beneficiaries of the premium to the suppliers on February 10”, confirms Etienne Mignolet, the spokesperson for the FPS Economy, to RTBF. “The suppliers send us their customer listings from which we extract all those who are not entitled to the flat rate.” The FPS must indeed regularly update this information, because some people move house, change contract, switch to the social tariff, etc.
-€588 deduction on the March invoice: it is very likely
It is therefore only from February 10 (at the earliest) that suppliers will have the data that will allow them to know who, among their portfolio of customers, is entitled to the bonus. Translation: depending on when your bill is established by your supplier, you might not see your energy package reduce your bills until… March (it will be, then, a total of 405 € for gas which will be refunded to you, and 183 € for electricity). In short: unless you have a down payment of more than €588 per month for the two energies (which is unfortunately likely, given the surge in prices in 2022), you will pay nothing (and you will touch up, even silver ) in March 2023.
What is certain: the suppliers must have deducted all the premiums from their customers’ invoices by 1 April at the latest.
What if you haven’t received the November and December bonuses yet?
The situation is more rare, but not impossible. From next January 23, if you are sure you are eligible for aid but you have not received anything, you can submit a request via a form available on the FPS Economy website to claim this package not received. Belgians living in a condominium, with collective energy contracts, are for example concerned, The DH spoke regarding it not long ago.
Good news: residents of condominiums will be entitled to an energy bonus of up to €675
White smoke for pellet stove owners: the €250 bonus arrives on February 1
This has just been decided: from 1 February 2023, Belgians who heat with pellets will be able to apply for a bonus on the website of the FPS Economy (a paper version will be available for those who do not want to go digital). There is therefore no automatic payment of this premium, our authorities obviously having no knowledge of who is or is not heating with wood pellets.
Small quantity purchases, unfortunately, are not eligible. The aid concerns purchases of wood pellets of at least 500 kilos. No help, therefore, for consumers of this means of heating who do not have the space at home to store the combustible material in large quantities, and are supplied by bags… Obviously, you will have to provide proof of payment and order , which must have been passed between June 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023.
To qualify for this bonus, pellets must be your main source of heating. If you use the pellet stove as an auxiliary heater, you are therefore not entitled to said bonus. In Belgium, “1% of households would heat mainly with pellets”, indicates the office of the Federal Minister of the Economy to our colleagues from The future.
And what regarding the “old” heating bonus of €100?
This is the “oldest” of the bonuses for this energy crisis: a federal heating bonus of €100, which was normally granted automatically via the supplier when sending a deposit invoice drawn up during the spring or summer 2022. Anyone who had not received their heating subsidy by July 31, 2022 might submit a request to the FPS Economy between August 1, 2022 and November 17, 2022.
The FPS Economy thus received 264,500 requests, of which 20,493 (or 8%) have yet to be finalized. These will not all be granted. Of the requests already processed, it thus appeared that 57% were not justified. “Many citizens have submitted a request when there had already been an automatic grant. Either they didn’t pay attention or someone else in the household had received the bounty. Alongside this, there have also been a lot of requests for professional contracts or second residences”, we explain to the SPF.
Of these 20,000 customers awaiting a decision, the administration is awaiting clarification from the supplier before deciding.
