Average gas and electricity bills

Advance payments really depend on your consumption, type of home, solar panels, ownership of an electric car, and much more. So an “average” household does not necessarily reflect your own situation.

That said, the VREG and the CREG have drawn up the most common consumption profiles, and for all of these profiles we have already made an estimate in our overview tables. Feel free to use them as a guide.

There are 2 times when you can expect a final bill>

Yearly

• Each year, your meter reading is recorded by your local grid operator (whether automatically or not). Based on this, it is checked whether you have paid too much or too little in advance payments during the year. An annual statement is then drawn up.

When moving house

• If you are moving, you need to complete a takeover document together with the new occupant. Based on this document, you as the outgoing resident will receive a final bill for the energy you personally still consumed. This can therefore also cover a period shorter than 1 year.

You pay a monthly (or sometimes quarterly) advance for your energy consumption, so the cost is spread out and you avoid having to pay a very high annual bill all at once. For energy suppliers, this also helps limit the risk of non-payment.

There are also a few prepaid energy formulas, where you pay your full annual bill in advance and only receive a final settlement once a year. However, this formula is not popular and is chosen only rarely.

If you have received your final bill and it turns out you have paid too much in advance, you can have the credit refunded. To do so, contact the customer service department of your energy supplier.

On the other hand, if you have paid too little in advance, you will have to pay the difference via your final bill, and this amount must be settled straight away.

Once you have received your final bill, you will usually also receive a new proposal for your advance payment amount, adjusted to the new situation based on your expected consumption and energy prices.

Yes, you can contact your energy supplier at any time to have your advance payment adjusted. In most cases, you can also arrange this yourself online via your supplier’s customer portal.

There are, of course, limits to how high or how low you can set your advance payment. For example, if your energy consumption is usually high, you will not be able to set an extremely low advance payment.

Each supplier has its own internal rules for this, but the general principle is that your advance payment must always be realistic and in line with your actual consumption.