Engie has announced it will be offering fixed year-long energy contracts to its customers from 1 April onward, becoming the second supplier in Belgium to do so following Luminus' announcement in December 2022.
The company announced the launch of its new Easy Fixed contracts on Thursday. The new contracts are targeted towards “consumers who prefer long-term stability and security.”
Available in limited quantity and on a year-by-year basis, they will first be offered to customers on fixed contracts elsewhere which are set to be renewed in June.
The supplier’s decision comes after the recent decline in energy prices, with the Belgian electricity market having even reached negative prices. This has also seen them follow Luminus' lead by becoming the second energy supplier in Belgium to offer fixed contracts.
The energy company also revealed that their variable contracts will now be indexed every month from 1 April onward, instead of quarterly. Engie believes that this will allow them to better and more quickly reflect price evolutions on the wholesale market.
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However, customers may feel that Engie's recent offer of a switch is too little too late, given the clamour for fixed contracts during last year’s energy crisis. Indeed, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions to highly volatile changes.
Moreover, some may even accuse the supplier of only folding to recent pressure for fixed rates on energy bills. For example, a survey conducted by the consumer organisation Test-Achats revealed that 76% of Belgians wanted the option of choosing fixed energy contracts.
