The French charging point operator (CPO) Electra is the first major player in Belgium to tie public charging costs to time-of-use logic. This means that off-peak rates will be offered that are lower than the average Belgian household electricity tariff. This scheme provides a new windfall for environments where charging is constrained by practical caveats, such as cities.
Public fast charging in Belgium has long carried an implicit cost premium for drivers without a driveway. People who rely entirely on public infrastructure and have no access to the cheap overnight rates that home chargers unlock. Corporate drivers transfer these costs to their employers, but for private adoption, the higher cost of public charging is definitely a steep hurdle.
Rates at €0.34/kWh
Electra, the French-founded ultra-fast charging operator, is trying to close that gap. It launches a dynamic peak/off-peak pricing model across its busiest Belgian stations, starting today. Given the significant fluctuations in electricity prices, this scheme is logical, though less profitable for the operator. As Electra is selective in its rollout, it appears to be treating the renewed pricing format as an experiment.
Electra+ Smart subscribers can access off-peak rates starting at €0.34/kWh at the network’s most congested locations. The company says this is below the average household electricity cost in Belgium.
But does it? According to household electricity data (Statista Q4 2025), Belgian consumers pay around $0.40/kWh (€0,344) on residential tariffs, granting Electra the advantage. But it also depends on where you charge.
The official reimbursement tariff set by the energy regulator Creg is €0.31 in Flanders, €0.35 in Brussels, and €0.36 in Wallonia. The Electra pricing scheme remains competitive, and it’s a pat on the back for private customers struggling to install domestic charging infrastructure. Also, home chargers don’t offer the same speeds as Electra’s, which peak at 400 kW.
End of the driveway premium
“With €0.34/kWh we are offering the lowest ultra-fast charging rate on the market, and one that is cheaper than the average price of domestic electricity in Belgium,” said Louis-Charles Mosseray, General Manager of Electra for the Benelux region. “This is our concrete response to the purchasing power challenge. Electric mobility should not be a luxury reserved for people with a home charger.”
Electra’s model explicitly borrows from the logic of the day/night tariff that has been familiar to Belgian households for decades. The idea: if flexible pricing works at home, it can work just as well at a public fast charger.
Will Electra’s competitors follow suit? Price is always a pulling power. According to GIREVE’s analysis of Belgium’s fast charging market, around 60 CPOs now offer DC fast charging in Belgium. But the competitive focus has remained overwhelmingly on infrastructure rollout rather than pricing tactics. At competitors’ fast-charging stations, customers usually pay twice as much or even more.
Highest-demand only
Unfortunately, the pricing model is only applied to Electra’s highest-demand stations. Rates vary by time slot and are displayed in real time in the Electra app before a session begins. Once a driver plugs in, the rate is locked for the duration of the session. An important disclaimer, because it secures a customer that a session starting at €0.34/kWh stays at that rate even if the clock crosses into a peak window mid-charge.
The goal, however, is not only affordability but also network load management. By creating a meaningful price signal during off-peak hours, Electra aims to spread session load more evenly across the day and reduce strain on the Belgian electricity grid during peak demand periods.
