The state’s reaction has been criticized : too slow, not concrete for households in difficulty, not targeted enough or forgetting the middle class. However, from an accounting point of view, the operation is not transparent.
Even before the first explosions in Ukraine, the state had already extended the social tariff to a wider audience, anticipating a surge in prices following the post-Covid economic recovery. From February 2021, the social tariff was thus extended and still concerns one million Belgians today. The cost to the state in 2022 is, as estimated by the CREGof 1.264 billion euros, since it is the State which compensates between the wholesale price and the reduced rate charged to customers.
The state then distributed checks: 100€ during the summer of 2022, €225 oil check and €250 pellet check in autumn 2022. Finally, while some have not yet touched it at the time of writing these lines, Belgian households have benefited from the “basic package”, i.e. a reduction of €135/month on gas and €61/month on electricity in November and December 2022.
In total, state support expenditure in 2022 will reach almost 3.5 billion euros.