VREG: ‘Average household will pay €100 more for electricity next year’

The distribution network rates on household electricity bills, which account for approximately one-third of the total cost, may increase by 31 percent next year. According to some initial calculations, this would amount to an average of more than 100 euros extra per year.

For the third year in a row, electricity network rates are increasing. After years of savings, this brings them to the highest level since 2019. Because we are all driving more electrically, heating houses more often with a heat pump, and companies are also producing more using electricity instead of oil or natural gas, consumption has increased significantly, and the electricity grid will have to be strengthened considerably in the coming years.

Energy transition

The Flemish energy regulator VREG explains that the primary explanation for the higher network rates is the significant increase in Elia’s transmission network rates, which account for about half of the rise, the higher interest rates on the financial markets, and the investments required on the distribution network in the context of the energy transition.

The energy transition will require billions in investments in electricity distribution networks in the coming years. This will prepare society for its extensive electrification and thus guarantee the comfort of our families and companies in tomorrow’s society.

On the other hand, the network rates on the natural gas bill would remain virtually stable in 2025. Final amounts will have to wait until the VREG approves the distribution system operators’ tariff proposals in December.

Tariff methodology

In the meantime, the grid operators are legally challenging the tariff methodology for 2025-2028, believing that the income is insufficient to cover their costs. According to Fluvius, the group of distribution system operators, the VREG has not respected the rules and principles for establishing a new tariff methodology, endangering the investments necessary for electrifying society in the coming years.

Because these additional investments threaten to increase the electricity bill even further in the coming years, the municipal reference shareholder Publi-T has ordered an audit.