Including a social tariff in the law for persons who heat their flats with a collective boiler is proving to be “titanic legal work,” Energy Minister Tinne van der Straeten (Groen) told a House committee.
A bill to this effect should soon land on the government’s table, but some of the work still needs to be done, she said.
During the energy crisis, it became apparent that it was not easy to include people who heat their homes with a collective boiler among the beneficiaries of the social tariff. However, they were able to apply for the basic gas package, which they did on 50,000 occasions, the Minister explained in response to questions from MEPs Kris Verduyckt (Vooruit), Kurt Ravyts (Vlaams Belang) and Robin Bruyère (PTB).
That measure is no longer in force.
The three legislators pointed out that the minister had announced that she would come up with a solution for the social tariff on 1 July.
However, Ms. Van der Straten explained that the dossier is more complex than expected. It is taking longer to finalise due to issues such as how to identify the people behind the collective boilers and to define the notion of residence. “We somewhat naively thought we could insert it with a single stroke of the pen,” the minister admitted.
Ms.Van der Straeten announced that she would present the government with a draft bill in the coming weeks, but there is still a long process to follow: an opinion from the Data Protection Authority (DPA), consultation with the Regions, an opinion from the Council of State and, perhaps, an implementing decree.
In any event, the intention is to work with a fixed annual premium in euros, according to the minister.
