Even purged of the effects of mild weather, Belgian gas consumption fell by nearly 28% compared to the expected level, according to calculations by L’Echo on Wednesday.
Adjust your heating to 19 degrees, take shorter showers or even replace your energy-guzzling water heater: in recent months, Belgians have been showered with advice aimed at reducing their gas consumption and therefore their energy bill. And the message got through.
“I take the shower once a week. To wash myself, I heat the water in the boiler”says a lady. “I still take my shower every day but I’m careful”launches a passerby. “In the kitchen, I try to use the hotplates as little as possible and to favor a slightly colder kitchen”, says a man. Another explains that he “lowered the temperature in the house, especially at night”.
According to L’Echo, the gas consumption of Belgians has fallen by nearly 30%, excluding the impact of the mild temperatures of this autumn.
Consumption figures from the European network of gas network operators Entsog reveal that consumption by Belgian households and small consumers has been much lower in recent weeks than in previous years. For the whole of the past month – with an average temperature of 14.4°C, it was the second hottest month of October ever recorded in our country – gas consumption evolved well below the average level of the last years.
So will this drop in consumption have an effect on your bill?
The answer is yes if you have a fixed contract. For variable contracts, it is more complicated. “For the variable, the final price depends in particular on your consumption, so it’s always good to reduce your consumption. Even if in reality, we always start from standard consumption profiles. We know that consumption for the month of October, it’s around 7%, so it doesn’t make a huge difference to your bill. We should continue this trend for the coming months”underlines Julie Frère, the spokesperson for Test Achats.