The average consumer still struggles to understand their energy bill, resulting in countless households overpaying for their gas and electricity.
For now, the nightmarishly high energy prices seen during the second half of last year, resulting in providers dropping their fixed energy contract offerings, have calmed down.
While consumer rights organisation Test Achats welcomed the fact that prices are now down to a more affordable level, it argued that some points remain unchanged, even a year later.
It highlighted that the energy bill remains a difficult document to decipher for the average consumer, which explains why two million households still have overpriced energy contracts.
"The energy crisis has shown that many consumers cannot find their way around the many contracts and ways of calculating the energy price. This needs to be much more transparent, so consumers can also keep a better eye on whether their price is still in line with the market," Laura Clays, spokesperson for Test Achats, said.
Lack of transparency
The organisation criticised the fact that consumers with a variable energy tariff rarely know how the price that appears on their bill is calculated.
Usually, the suppliers state in an energy bill that the price 'follows the market', but for most people, it is unclear what market that is and based on which parameters they calculate the cost that is billed to customers. Most people are also unaware of how many times the price is adjusted.
Credit: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck
"There are numerous elements that impact the final price, and the adjustment happens for one contract every month, for another only every three months. This makes life unnecessarily complex for consumers and is pernicious for confidence in the energy market," Test Achats noted.
It has argued that this should be made simpler and that suppliers should ensure there are fewer and clearer parameters combined with monthly adjustments. "It should be clear to a consumer at any time what price they are paying for the energy and how this price is calculated by the supplier."
Especially those with variable contracts should have a more transparent picture of how the price is calculated, Test Achats stressed. "This would allow them to adjust their advances more quickly and avoid big surprises on the final bill," Clays said.
However, she stressed that this should also apply to fixed-rate customers, who will then be able to compare their prices more quickly with the new contracts on the market. "More transparency will ensure that the two million households that the energy regulator CREG currently says are still paying too much for their energy can find the cheapest contract."
These demands were the focus of a petition launched by the organisation late last year, which has already received more than 17,000 signatures.
