In the run-up to the elections on 9 June, consumer rights organisation Test Achats surveyed over 1,000 Belgians about the changes they want to see. Three topics came out on top: clearer energy bills, more ATMs and longer warranty periods.
As many of the themes deemed important by consumers will feature high on the political agenda for the upcoming elections, Test Achats will also be submitting these results to the political parties and asking them whether (and how) they intend to meet the requirements.
"Reducing the price of electricity contracts is a real priority for Test Achats," said spokesperson Ortwin Huysmans in a press release. "This is only possible if we remove all taxes and levies and only pay for the energy itself and its transport."
This would also make invoices much clearer for consumers, which is "something that almost all of them want."
Transparent bills, keeping life affordable
The vast majority of respondents in all parts of the country (93%) indicated that they wanted additional legislation to make energy bills more transparent, while 75% of Belgians said they want to always be able to choose a fixed energy rate.
Moreover, 80% of Belgian consumers believe that the Federal Government should keep supermarket prices under control when inflation rises sharply, following two years of purchasing coming under severe pressure due to the energy crisis.
Consumers clearly want the government to intervene to keep life affordable in these cases. While Flemish consumers are slightly less supportive of this (76%) than Walloon (85%) and Brussels consumers (94%), the rates were high across the country.
Credit: Belga
As regards the telecom sector, consumers want to receive compensation more quickly when the service is not running properly; telecom operators already have to automatically reimburse their customers for outages that last longer than eight hours, but only if more than 25,000 customers are affected.
The Test Achats survey shows that over nine in ten (91%) want automatic compensation after eight hours of disruption, without the additional condition of the number of people affected.
Regarding the banking sector, 73% of respondents believe that there are not enough ATMs to withdraw or deposit cash. "The agreement which the government concluded with the banking sector in March last year for better distribution is not sufficient," said Huysmans.
"In the meantime, ATMs continue to disappear, much to the dismay of consumers. Let this be the signal to thoroughly adjust the agreement," he added.
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When it comes to healthcare, Belgians are also in favour of stronger patient protection: 86% want the government to monitor drug prices more in consultation with the pharmaceutical sector, and almost as many Belgians (80%) want to cap fee supplements for one-person rooms in hospitals.
Additionally, the two-year legal warranty for appliances and electronics should be extended to "better approximate the expected lifespan" of the product, said more than nine in ten respondents.
85% of Belgians across the country are also in favour of imposing the so-called "repair score," which indicates how repairable a product is and should in principle encourage manufacturers to develop (more) sustainable devices.
