Gas, electricity, pellets,…: help to pay your energy bill is coming slowly, you’ll get it in 2023
Initially, this monthly bonus of 135 euros for gas and 61 euros for electricity, intended only for November and December, was finally extended until March. Therefore, this is a total assistance of €980 (€675 for gas and €305 for electricity). As for 2022, if the eligible Belgians (must have a variable or fixed contract but signed after 30 September 2021; do not have a social tariff, etc.) have practically all received deductions (probably in December, November bonus including), nothing has yet entered the accounts for 2023. The January installment invoice has been paid in full for everyone.
Why haven’t you received the energy bonus on your January bill yet?
Don’t worry, your supplier hasn’t forgotten about you. And all Belgians are placed in the same boat. Explanation: suppliers have not yet received all the information they need to remove this assistance from their customers’ invoices. “First we need to exchange this information with FPS Economy, which is scheduled for mid-February,” explains Engie’s spokesperson on RTL Info’s microphone.
“We will send the files of the beneficiaries of the award to the suppliers on February 10,” Etienne Mignolet, spokesman for the FPS Economy, told RTBF. “Suppliers send us their customer lists and we remove all those who are not eligible for the flat rate.” FPS really needs to update this information regularly, because some people move house, change contract, switch to social tariff, etc.
-€588 discount on March invoice: likely
Therefore, only from February 10 (at the earliest) will suppliers have information that will allow them to know who is eligible for a bonus from their customer portfolio. Translation: depending on when your bill is set by your supplier, you may not see your energy package reduce your bills until… March (then you will only be reimbursed €405 for gas and €183 for electricity). In short: if you do not make an initial payment of more than 588 euros per month for two energies (unfortunately, taking into account the increase in prices in 2022), you will pay nothing (and even touch silver) March 2023.
What’s for sure: suppliers must deduct all premiums from their customers’ invoices by April 1 at the latest.
If you haven’t received your November and December bonuses yet?
The situation is rarer, but not impossible. If you are sure that you are eligible for assistance from next January 23, but have not received anything, you can submit a request through the form available on the FPS Economy website to claim that this package has not been received. Belgians living in a condominium with collective energy contracts, for example, are worried, DH talked about this not too long ago.
Good news: residents of condominiums will be entitled to an energy bonus of up to 675 euros
White smoke for pellet stove owners: €250 bonus coming February 1st
It has just been decided: from February 1, 2023, Belgians who heat themselves with pellets will be able to apply for a bonus on the FPS Economy website (a paper option will be available for those who do not want to go digital). Therefore, there is no automatic payment of this premium, our authorities have no information about who is or is not being heated with wood pellets.
Unfortunately, small quantity purchases are not eligible. The grant applies to the purchase of at least 500 kilograms of wood pellets. Therefore, there is no help for the consumers of this heater, who do not have room to store a lot of combustible material at home and are provided with bags… Obviously, you will have to provide proof of payment and order. Must have been received between June 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023.
Pellets must be your primary heat source to qualify for this bonus. If you are using a pellet stove as an auxiliary heater, then you are not eligible for this bonus. In Belgium, “1% of households are heated mainly with pellets”, the office of the Federal Minister of Economy informs our colleagues from L’Avenir.
But what about the “old” heating bonus of €100?
This is the “oldest” of the bonuses for the energy crisis: a federal heating bonus of 100 euros, usually automatically given by the supplier when sending a deposit invoice drawn up in the spring or summer of 2022. Subsidy for heating until July 31, 2022 can send a request to FPS Economy between August 1, 2022 and November 17, 2022.
Thus, FPS Economy received 264,500 requests, of which 20,493 (or 8%) have not yet been completed. Not all of them will be given. It turned out that 57% of already processed requests were not substantiated. “When there was already an automatic grant, many citizens applied. Either they didn’t notice, or someone else from home got the prize. In addition, there were many requests for professional contracts or second residence,” we explain to SPF.
Of these 20,000 customers awaiting a decision, the administration is waiting for a statement from the supplier before making a decision.
