Tax reform - Replacement of federal contribution for gas and electricity and green power certificate with excise duties.

On 7 December 2021, Belgium's House Energy Committee gave the greenlight to the introduction of an Energy standard:

• The reform means that the price increases due to federal levies are no longer automatically calculated on the invoice
• They are replaced by an excise duty, which allows the invoice to be kept constant. 
  • In this way, the government will reduce the energy bill for families by 103 million euros in 2022
  • That will yield an average family that is not entitled to the social rate next year about 30 euros. 

The government decided on a simplification of energy bills to increase price transparency to consumers and facilitate change of suppliers. The measure was decided in the Council of Ministers from 23 July 2021, and was published in the Official Gazette on 21 December. It entered into force on 1 January 2022.

A report from June 2021 had shown that for many people, especially those living in energy poverty, the previous energy bill design was too long and illegible. This limited consumers' capacity to change their suppliers and reduce their bills.

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