For all countries under review, this section details:
1. Commodity costs for profiles E-RES, E-SSME and E-BSME;
2. Network costs for profiles E-RES, E-SSME and E-BSME;
3. All other costs for profiles E-RES, E-SSME and E-BSME.
4. VAT for profile E-RES
Profile Consumption (kWh) Connection capacity (kVA)62
E-RES 3.500 9,20
E-SSME 30.000 46,90
E-BSME 160.000 156
Belgium
Contrary to what is observed in other countries, the Belgian Electricity suppliers have quite transparent price sheets. Commonly not only the current price sheets can be found online but also previous ones, meaning that the evolution over the years can easily be seen. The price sheets also give a good overview of all charged components, thereby offering a clear understanding of what the final invoice will be.
Component 1 – the commodity price
In 2018, the HHI of the retail market in Belgium was over 2.000, and according to the methodology, this entails that we consider only three products: the standard product, the cheapest product of the market incumbent, and the cheapest offer on the market. The switching rate for households in Belgium is 18,95% (E-RES) and for non-households 21,6% (E-SSME). The products of the market incumbent for E-RES thus each weigh 18,95%)/2 or 40,53%. For the E-SSME, the two products of the market incumbent each weight 39,20%, (100%-21,6%)/2.
Table 21 : Profile weights depending on the Belgian product
Product Weight E-RES Weight E-SSME
Standard product of market incumbent 40,53% 39,20%
Cheapest product on the market 18,95% 21,60%
Cheapest product of the market incumbent 40,53% 39,20%
Total 100% 100%
The table below gives an overview of the selected products, based on the consumption and characteristics of the profile, per region and their annual cost. To choose these products price comparison websites of the respective regional regulators were used: https://vtest.vreg.be/ for Flanders, www.compacwape.be for Wallonia and www.brusim.be for Brussels. All prices reported are VAT excluded.
Table 22 : Annual cost of selected products for profile E-RES in Belgium
Region Supplier – Product Fixed
component
ENGIE - Electrabel Easy Indexed MEGA – Super variable
62 Methodology to assess connection capacity of each profile can be found in section 3.2. Consumer profiles.
FORBEG – A European comparison of electricity and natural gas prices for residential, small professional and large
ENGIE - Electrabel Easy Indexed Vlaamse Energieleverancier - Groen variabel
Table 23 : Annual cost of selected products for profile E-SSME in Belgium
Region Supplier – Product Fixed
component Brussels ENGIE - Electrabel Easy Pro Indexed
LUMINUS - Basic pro Wallonia ENGIE - Electrabel Easy Pro Indexed
Luminus - Basic Pro Electricité ENGIE - Electrabel Direct Pro
48,50 Flanders ENGIE - Electrabel Easy Pro Indexed
Vlaamse Energieleverancier - Groen variabel pro
ENGIE - Electrabel Direct Pro
48,50 While this methodology provides an objective view of the market situation in Belgium, one must be aware that it does not provide a full overview of market prices as only three products were considered to depict the Belgian commodity prices.
The commodity price for the E-BSME profile was not extracted from a comparison website but calculated according to the following formula, procured by the CREG.63 Commodity prices computation rests on market prices and describes the cost of electricity for industrial consumers as of January 2021. We used the ICE Endex CAL and the Belpex DAM as national indexes for the computation. For the E-BSME profile, we did not include weekend hours of Belpex DAM.
Commodity price
= 36.5% H@I JKL+ 27.4% H@I JKQ+ 21.4% H@I JKR+ 8.2% T%KL+ 4.2% U%KL+ 2.3% V#'"#W X@U Where:
63 The equations are based on an analysis of all Belgian consumers with a yearly usage higher than 10 GWh, which was performed by the Belgian regulator. For 2021, ratios used in the formula were determined as being the average coefficients over three years (2016 to 2018). For the sake of consistency, the coefficients will remain the same for the initial study and the yearly updates until 2023.
FORBEG – A European comparison of electricity and natural gas prices for residential, small professional and large Explanation
CAL Y-1 Average year ahead forward price in 2020 CAL Y-2 Average two years ahead forward price in 2019 CAL Y-3 Average three years ahead forward price in 2018
Qi-1 Average quarter ahead forward price in the fourth quarter of 2020
Mi-1 Average month ahead forward price in December 2020
Component 2 – network costs Transmission cost
All residential profiles reviewed in this study are subject to transmission tariffs. The table below syntheses the components per region:
Table 24 : Network cost components per Belgian region
Brussels Flanders Wallonia
1. Transmission costs 1. Tariffs for the management
and the development of the grid infrastructure
1. Fares for the management and the development of the grid infrastructure
2. Tariffs for the management of the electric system
3. Tariffs for the power reserves and black start
4. Tariffs for market integration
2. Tariffs for network losses64 - 2. Tariffs for network losses65
Concerning transmission tariffs, regional regulators also differ in terms of timing of tariffs adoption. The table below sets out the different adoption dates per region:
Table 25 : Adoption date of new tariffs by regional DSOs in Belgium Adoption of new tariffs by local regulators Transmission
VREG 1 March 2021
BRUGEL 1 January 2021
CWaPE 1 March 2021
This study analyses the tariffs in January 2021. Therefore, transmission tariffs for Wallonia are taken at their 2020 level as they remain valid until the end of February 2021.
64 Network losses on the federal transmission grid (380/220/150 kV) are a separate and additional component of transmission tariffs. Suppliers usually bill these costs as a percentage (fixed every year by the TSO) of the commodity cost. While the costs associated to network losses is not a transmission tariff as such, it is deemed to be a part of the 2nd component in this study.
We consider that such tariff only applies to E-BSME as commodity is not computed based on a supplier’s product, which would cover network losses through its costs.
65 See footnote 64.
FORBEG – A European comparison of electricity and natural gas prices for residential, small professional and large industrial consumers
May 2021 130