Federal Energy Minister, Tinne Van der Straeten, is to submit to the government a bill for a bonus to be awarded to households locked out of the social energy tariff because they use collective heating systems.
The proposed regulation would award an annual grant to such families. For 2024, the grant is set to be €160 for households using collective gas heating systems.
Through this proposal, around 60,000 families overlooked prior to the energy price rise, will have the inequality rectified.
“Despite these families’ eligibility for energy grants – up to €980 for Winter 2022-2024 via the standard package – we wanted to establish a permanent measure. This will be accomplished with the ‘social tariff’ grant,” the minister explained.
Currently, the social energy tariff only extends to individual residential customers, thus excluding families with collective boiler systems.
At the height of the crisis, the social tariff significantly helped prevent a “social bloodbath,” noted Van der Straeten. “Several studies, notably by the National Bank and the CREG, proved that the social energy tariff, as applied in Belgium, was a highly effective protection against the high and volatile energy prices for the most vulnerable households.”
