For gas, “a household consuming 12,000 kWh per year will see an increase of €23 in 2025, or 12.7% more than in 2024. Annual increases will then remain limited to 1.8% for the following years.”
Thus, the electricity bill for an average household will cost 241 euros per year next year, 286 in 2029. For gas, it will increase from 188 euros in 2025 and 202 euros in 2029. By combining the two increases, for gas and electricity therefore, the average customer will see distribution and transport costs increase by around €67 between 2024 and 2025, i.e. €5.60 per month. In 5 years, the price of electricity distribution will increase by 32%, that of gas by 21%.
Remember that the distribution part represents around a third of the electricity bill (29%) and a fifth (19%) of the gas bill of a Brussels residential customer. The increase in prices is linked to a catch-up in inflation that occurred during the period 2019 -2024 and a need for investments linked, in particular, to the smart meter installation program. On this point, Brussels is in fact one of the most backward regions in Europe. “Brussels is still an island of electromechanical meters in Europe. Political decisions were taken much later than in the vast majority of European Union countries”explains Brugel director Pascal Misselyn.
Brussels has around 75,000 households equipped with a smart meter. This is less than 10% of the number of active meters in the regional territory. According to Brugel, half of Brussels households will be equipped with smart meters around 2028. The year, precisely, of the entry into force of differentiated pricing, in three time slots: off-peak hours (11 p.m. to 7 a.m.), peak hours (7 a.m. to 5 p.m. ) and peak hours (5 p.m. to 11 p.m.). The objective is to encourage Brussels owners with a digital meter to shift their electricity consumption outside peak hours. “We must avoid network saturation.”recalls Pascal Misselyn. “The network is designed to withstand demand for electricity during peak hours, i.e. in January around 5-6 p.m. The rest of the time, the available power is more than sufficient. But increasing this available power (new cabins, cables, etc.) is very expensive.”
Please note that gas and electricity consumption continues its downward trend in Brussels. But less markedly than during the Covid and energy crisis years (2020, 2021 and 2022). Brugel estimates that it will take another two years to determine whether this is an effect of emerging from the crisis or an effect linked to the start of the electrification of the Brussels automobile fleet.
Detailed prices are available on brugel.brussels.
