Energy supplier: the lever you can pull in a month
Insulating a roof takes months and costs thousands of euros. Switching supplier takes one month's notice and costs nothing — no exit fee, even on a fixed-price contract with a set term. The federal regulator says so in black and white. What is left is understanding what you actually pay: on an electricity bill, energy is only 38%.
This site has sixteen pages on energy. They all explain how to use less: insulate, replace a boiler, fit panels. None of them explained how to pay less right now, with no building work. That is what this one is for.
One month's notice, no exit fee
CREG's wording leaves no room for interpretation: “Whether the contract is fixed-term or open-ended, a consumer may cancel their energy supply contract at any time subject to one month's notice. The supplier may not charge them any exit fee.”
That also applies to a fixed-price contract. CREG repeats it about those contracts: if prices fall, you do not benefit, “unless you switch contract in the meantime, which you can always do, free of charge, subject to one month's notice”.
⚠️ One thing only to check: the standing charge. CREG warns against fixed-price contracts that come with a high fixed standing charge, especially when it is billed in full even if you switch before the end of the term. It is not an exit fee — it is legal — but the economic effect comes close. That is the line to read before you sign.
What you really pay
Before switching supplier, you need to know what the switch actually acts on. The answer: on part only of the bill.
| Component | Electricity | Natural gas |
|---|---|---|
| Energy — the only part the supplier sets | 38.19% | 59.86% |
| Network costs — distribution and transmission | 29.86% | 20.43% |
| Levies and surcharges | 26.30% | 14.04% |
| VAT | 6%, i.e. the remaining 5.7% or so | |
On a gas bill, the share you can put out to competition is more than half the amount: switching supplier has a direct and sizeable effect.
On an electricity bill, it is only a little over a third. An offer 10% cheaper on energy therefore cuts the total bill by only about 4%.
Network costs do not depend on the supplier but on the distribution system operator for your municipality: they are the same whatever the offer. Levies cover the energy contribution, excise duties, the Walloon connection charge, the Flemish energy fund contribution, the Brussels public service obligations surcharge, and the costs linked to green electricity and cogeneration.
Fixed or variable: what you are really buying
One thing to watch on fixed-term contracts: suppliers generally set a two-month notice period before the end date in which to offer a renewal, and their terms and conditions treat that offer as accepted if you do not react. That is how you end up rolled over onto an offer that is no longer competitive.
The indexes, in plain terms
An indexation parameter is, in CREG's words, “a variable element of the price formula used to determine the variable energy price”, with a clear link to quotations published by the energy exchanges. The names are opaque but the logic is simple.
| Index | Energy | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Endex101 | Electricity | Average closing quotations of Belgian futures for the month before the month of supply |
| Endex103 | Electricity | Same, but for the month before the quarter of supply |
| Belpex DAM | Electricity | Average monthly price on the Belgian day-ahead market |
| TTF101 | Gas | Average of ICE Dutch TTF futures for the month before the month of supply |
| TTF103 | Gas | Same, for the month before the quarter |
| ZTP101 | Gas | EEX Gas ZTP futures, monthly basis |
101 = monthly indexation. 103 = quarterly indexation. A 101 index reacts faster, up and down alike. A 103 index smooths more. That is all you need to compare two variable offers.
The social tariff: identical at every supplier
This is the most misunderstood point: the social tariff is the same at every supplier. Being entitled to it makes comparing pointless — and switching supplier of no use.
| Social tariff, Q3 2026 | Total, incl. 6% VAT |
|---|---|
| Electricity, single rate | 24.927 c€/kWh |
| Electricity, dual rate day | 26.797 c€/kWh |
| Electricity, dual rate night | 23.328 c€/kWh |
| Natural gas and heat | 5.458 c€/kWh |
The amount is set by CREG, but eligibility is handled by FPS Economy. It is recalculated every three months, starting from the cheapest commercial tariff on the market, with caps on increases: 10% against the previous quarter for electricity, 15% for gas.
It has been automatic since 1 July 2009 for people on CPAS, FPS Social Security and Federal Pensions Service benefits, and it is extended automatically the following year if the entitlement still stands. The automation can fail where there is an inconsistency with the National Register — which is why it is worth checking for yourself through the FPS Economy online service.
⚠️ One category is not automatic. Social housing tenants whose heating depends on a collective installation have to apply for it. That is the category that most often misses out on the entitlement.
The official comparison tools, and what they do
⚠️ The 23,260 kWh figure is out of date. That was CREG's old reference profile for gas. After a survey of network operators, suppliers and consumers in the three Regions, CREG brought it down to 17,000 kWh from 1 April 2022. It is still circulating all over the web: a comparison based on it overstates the bill by more than a third.
A useful benchmark on the Flemish side: consumption actually measured in 2024 was 2,662 kWh of electricity taken from the grid — a figure pulled down by households with panels — and 11,281 kWh of gas, across all households.
The digital meter, unevenly rolled out
since 2023
meters
In Wallonia, since 1 January 2024, you can only refuse the communicating function of the meter — not the meter itself. That refusal has to be notified within 15 days of installation.
The digital meter is what gives access to dynamic contracts, indexed by the hour. In Brussels the first dynamic offers appeared in March 2025; at the end of 2025, five offers were on the table from three suppliers, but barely more than 1% of households in communication mode had signed up.
If you move house
The energy transfer document is how meter readings are passed on when you move in or move out. You fill it in in two copies signed by both parties, each keeping one. It has legal force and serves as evidence in any dispute over the readings. It has to state the transfer date, the address, the meter numbers and the readings. The official forms are published by CWaPE and by BRUGEL.