The fall in VAT from 21% to 6% on electricity and gas will not have long prevented a heavy impact of the increase in energy prices on the purchasing power of households.
In Flanders, the Flemish energy regulator, the VREG has just published figures.
The VRT relayed them this Tuesday. The increase in energy prices is such that it offsets the VAT reduction effect desired by the government. What the Flemish regulator observes also applies to Brussels and Wallonia since the increase in energy prices is identical in the three regions.
If we take electricity, for example, the entry into force of the reduction in VAT will only have had its effects for one month. For an average Flemish family, last month, the reduction of VAT from 21 to 6% allowed a gain of 237 euros on an annual basis. Since then, the price of electricity has again risen sharply. For the same average family, it is no longer a gain, but an increase of 240 euros on an annual basis.
Even paying only 6% VAT, the tariffs being higher, the average bill for a family is higher than in February, before the entry into force of the reduction in VAT.
According to the Flemish energy regulator, a family that concludes a contract on the terms of April will have to pay, on average, 1708 euros for the year, which constitutes, according to the VREG, a new record. In March, the effect of lower VAT and the rates in force at that time gave hope to “limit” the bill to 1468 euros for the year.
For gas, it’s even worse, because prices have soared even more than those of electricity, canceling out all the more any “lower VAT” effect. A Flemish family who concluded a natural gas contract in April must be prepared to pay 3659 euros for its annual consumption, enough to slightly beat the January record.