How to cancel your electricity contract in Belgium

Cancelling an electricity contract in Belgium is simpler than the general terms suggest: one month's notice, no indemnity, and usually no letter to write at all. Here is the exact procedure, the documents to dig out of the drawer, the right channel for each supplier and the mistakes that cost real money.

In short

• One month's notice and zero break-up fees for any residential customer, including on a three-year fixed contract.
• In the vast majority of cases you cancel nothing: the new supplier triggers the switch for you.
• Three things to prepare: EAN code (18 digits), dated meter reading, customer number.
• Manual cancellation only concerns three situations: moving abroad, moving in with someone already under contract, or a supplier ceasing activity.
• Most common mistake: cancelling before signing up elsewhere, which pushes the meter onto fallback supply.

Can you cancel an electricity contract at any time in Belgium?

Yes, at any time and without giving a reason, subject to one month's notice. The law of 25 August 2012 removed the break-up indemnity in the energy sector: before it, leaving a running contract cost several dozen euros. Since then, a residential customer can leave whenever they want, whether the contract is fixed-term or open-ended.

The misunderstanding I run into most often concerns fixed contracts. A household signs a three-year fixed rate with Engie or Luminus, sees a cheaper offer six months later, and gives up on moving because it believes it is "locked in for three years". It is not. The term of a fixed contract locks the price, not your freedom to leave. The Walloon regulator says so plainly on its "Changing supplier" page: switching is free and unrestricted.

One genuine caveat: if you leave an advantageous fixed rate in the middle of a price rise, you lose the benefit of that locked price. That is an economic calculation, not a legal constraint.

How much does cancelling an electricity contract cost?

Nothing, as long as you respect the one-month notice period. No break-up indemnity can be charged to a residential customer, and no Belgian supplier charges an administrative fee for leaving. The only amount arriving afterwards is the closing invoice: it settles the difference between the instalments you have already paid and the electricity actually consumed up to the switch date. It may well be in your favour.

What cancelling gains you, on the other hand, is far from negligible. According to August 2026 readings for a typical 3,500 kWh/year household, the annual electricity bill ranges from €1,304 to €1,589 depending on the contract — nearly €285 apart for exactly the same electricity, carried by the same grid. The CREG puts the energy component alone between €0.106 and €0.202/kWh in mid-2026, a twofold gap between the best- and worst-placed contract.

In other words: the procedure is free, staying put is not. Before cancelling, check what the market is worth in our ranking of the best electricity suppliers.

How do you cancel an electricity contract in 5 steps?

The procedure comes down to five steps, only one of which requires real effort. Allow 15 minutes of admin and around 30 days before the switch takes effect. Cost: €0.

What you need to hand: a recent invoice (it contains everything), your customer number, your 18-digit EAN code starting with 54, and something to photograph your meter with.

1. Compare first, cancel second. Before anything else, identify the contract you are moving to. Use an official regional comparison tool — CREG Scan at federal level, the VREG tool in Flanders, the CWaPE tool in Wallonia. Never give notice into thin air.
2. Read your meter. Photograph the meter on the day of the request, with the date visible on the shot. On a dual-rate meter, note both readings (day and night). That photo is what will save you if the closing invoice is estimated too high.
3. Sign up with the new supplier. This is the step that triggers everything: you pass on your EAN code and annual consumption, and the new supplier takes over. You do not contact the old one.
4. Let the notice period run. The new supplier informs your grid operator (ORES, Fluvius, RESA or Sibelga depending on your municipality), which notifies the old supplier. Your meters stay open: no cut-off, no technical intervention, no cable change.
5. Check the closing invoice, then cancel the direct debit. The old supplier sends its final statement within six weeks. Check the reading it used against your photo, then — and only then — cancel the bank direct debit.

The case where you must cancel yourself is rarer: moving abroad, moving in with someone who already has a contract, or your supplier ceasing activity. There, no new supplier is there to trigger the switch, and you have to write. A standard house move follows a different logic: it is the ideal moment to compare, as we explain in our guide to the best electricity supplier when moving house.

Where do you cancel, supplier by supplier?

Every Belgian supplier has a preferred channel, and picking the right one saves several days. Here are the entry points for the main players.

The recurring trap here involves dual and multi-energy offers. I have seen several OCTA+ and TotalEnergies customers believe they had cancelled everything by ending only the electricity side, and keep receiving gas instalments for months. Always check how many active contracts are listed in your customer portal before considering the file closed.

What should a cancellation letter contain?

A useful cancellation letter fits in six lines and contains five mandatory pieces of information. Without the EAN code, your request will be put on hold — it is the unique identifier of your supply point, and the supplier can do nothing without it.

The five elements not to forget:

• Your full name and complete supply address.
• Your customer number (at the top of any invoice).
• The EAN code of the electricity meter, 18 digits starting with 54.
• The desired cancellation date, allowing for the month's notice.
• The meter reading on that date (both readings on a dual-rate meter).

Template to adapt:

Subject: cancellation of my electricity supply contract — customer no. [number]

Dear Sir or Madam,

I hereby cancel my electricity supply contract for the supply point located at [full address], EAN code 54xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, with effect from [date, at least one month after sending].

The reading taken today is [reading] kWh (peak) and [reading] kWh (off-peak).

Please send the corresponding closing invoice to the following address: [correspondence address].

Yours faithfully,

Registered post is not required by law. It becomes useful when the relationship has soured or the supplier disputes the date: in that case, proof of sending is worth more than an email. For an ordinary file, the supplier's online form leaves a sufficient timestamped trace.

What are the most common mistakes to avoid?

The costliest is cancelling before signing up elsewhere. Your supply point is then left without a contract, the grid operator applies a fallback supply well above any commercial offer, and disconnection becomes possible after formal notice. Of the files I see come back, this is by far the scenario that does the most damage — and it is entirely avoidable.

The other traps, in order of frequency:

• Notifying the old supplier "just to be safe" when a switch is already under way. Two parallel procedures create incompatible end dates and delay the changeover.
• Not taking a meter reading. Without one, the closing invoice is estimated, almost always to your disadvantage, and disputing it afterwards takes weeks.
• Cancelling the direct debit too early. The closing invoice arrives after the switch; an unpaid final statement can end up in debt collection over a few dozen euros.
• Forgetting the second contract (gas, or electricity on a second meter) in dual offers.
• Believing a fixed contract stops you leaving. It only fixes the price.

If the supplier refuses the cancellation, charges break-up fees or drags beyond the deadline, the free point of contact is the federal Energy Ombudsman Service. A well-documented file — dates, meter photos, written exchanges — is typically handled there within a few weeks.

What changes for a self-employed person or an SME?

The notice period drops from 30 to 20 days, but the legal protection comes with a consumption ceiling. The 2012 law covers professionals falling into the SME category: less than 50,000 kWh of electricity and less than 100,000 kWh of gas per year, with an annually read meter. Below those thresholds, a self-employed person cancels exactly like a private customer, free of charge, with a shorter notice period.

Above them, the protection falls away. The business contract reverts to ordinary contract law: the general terms apply, break-up fees are possible, and it is up to the customer to submit the request in writing — the new supplier does not systematically take over. That is the point small growing businesses discover too late, having crossed the threshold without noticing.

One detail that matters for a self-employed person working from home: moving from a residential to a business contract changes the VAT rate applied (21% instead of 6% on residential electricity). We break that calculation down in our guide to the best electricity supplier for the self-employed.

In short: cancellation is not the real subject, choosing the next contract is. The procedure is free, regulated and quick; what is genuinely at stake is the €200 to €300 annual gap between the contract you are leaving and the one you sign. Compare before you move in our electricity supplier ranking, then let the new supplier do the work.