Experts estimate that energy will cost between 7,000 and 10,000 euros for an average family in the coming year. This represents between 600 and more than 800 euros per month, a colossal sum.
But from an individual point of view, can we still do something? Some have decided to put up with it and change their habits, while others are ready to drown under energy bills that they will soon no longer be able to pay, because they exceed the price of their rent.
Steve, a resident of Mons, is disabled. Under the mutual, the father of 5 children is entitled to the social rate. It’s regarding a “measure intended to help individuals or households belonging to certain categories of entitled persons to pay their energy bill“. This rate reduces the bill.
But even then, the man does not cope, because he has a backlog. He must pay 515 euros per month. Steve’s energy bill is higher than what he pays for his accommodation. “I asked for a one-month deferral to pay an overdue bill, but I’m not given this deferral“, he explains on the set of It’s not every day on Sunday. “And I don’t have any late bills, it’s only the count“, specifies the father of the family.
Can we get a delay in a case like Steve’s? Marc Van den Bosch, managing director and spokesperson for the Belgian Federation of Electric and Gas Companies, says most suppliers still offer payment plans with no premium cost. “But what we see is that the number of requests for payment plans is increasing and the total cost of the payment plans for the consumer is also obviously increasing and the time to pay the payment plan is also increasing .“
“A crisis more serious than covid”
For Bruno Colmant, economist, the crisis we are going through “is much more serious than covid. It’s comparable to 2008 when the economy almost collapsed“.
The economist specifies that 40% of the population is at risk of falling below the poverty line “with phenomena of civil disobedience that will arise. Many companies will go bankrupt“.
Bruno Colmant explains that the State helped the banks in 2008 immediately and “do the same now“, he believes. The state is in debt at 2% at 10 years and that is the price of social order, social peace, appeasement. “It is obvious that it must be done immediately“, insists the economist.
“We must not be at the level of findings, but of solutions. There are many solutions that can be found. We talked regarding capping the price of electricity, but we can take immediate tax measures such as indexing tax scales, and so on. to concentrate a tax benefit on the last three months of the year.”
Bruno Colmant confides that he has “the same animal and physical fear” than the one who animated it in 2008 when he sees this “which is happening“.