VAT on electricity in Belgium: why 6 % is misleading

VAT on electricity in Belgium is 6 % on any residential contract, and 21 % on a business contract. This reduced rate has been permanent since 1 April 2023. But it came at a price: excise duty went up on the same day, and it claws back most of what the VAT cut gave.

What is the VAT rate on electricity in Belgium?

Six per cent, in all three regions and with every supplier. Temporary from March 2022, the rate became permanent for residential contracts on 1 April 2023, according to the Council of Ministers of 28 October 2022. It applies to the whole bill, network and excise included. A business contract stays at 21 %.

April 2023: excise duty took back part of the cut

The same text that made the 6 % permanent raised excise duty on electricity by 33.88 € per MWh excluding VAT. Nothing about the calculation was hidden. The government took the 2021 average gap between 21 % and 6 % VAT, per MWh, and turned it into excise. It added a ratchet mechanism on a "basic package" of 3 MWh of electricity: when wholesale prices cross certain thresholds, the excise adjusts to cancel out the VAT gain or loss. The upshot, on the bills I take apart, is a "special excise duty" line that now weighs more than the VAT itself.

Nobody reads it.

The ORES tariff sheet for the second quarter of 2026 (ORES being the main Walloon grid operator) gave 4.748 c€ per kWh excluding VAT for households, identical in the 0 to 3 MWh and 3 to 20 MWh bands. A kWh of electricity therefore carried almost 5 cents of tax before VAT was even applied.

Does the 6 % VAT really save you money?

Yes, but far less than the gap between 6 and 21 suggests. We redid the maths on the Test-Achats typical bill, about 1,350 € a year including VAT for 3,500 kWh, recorded in September 2026.

The second line is the one people picture when reading "VAT went from 21 to 6 %": a 191 € saving. The third is the real comparison, since the 118.58 € a year excise rise excluding VAT (33.88 € times 3.5 MWh) would not exist without the VAT cut. The net advantage then drops to about 48 € a year, or 4 € a month. It is an order of magnitude, calculated by us from the excise rise announced in 2022, and the ratchet can shift it as wholesale prices move.

The objection comes straight away: is the VAT cut an illusion, then? No, and a comparison with France shows why. Since 1 August 2025, a French household pays 20 % VAT on its whole bill, and French excise duty stands at 30.62 € per MWh since 1 August 2026 according to Fournisseurs-Electricite.com. For the same pre-tax price of 25 c€ per kWh, taxes add about 6.4 c€ in Belgium and 8.7 c€ in France. The 6 % rate remains a real advantage, just thinner than it looks.

What did the excise reform of 1 August change?

Two things for electricity. The special excise duty falls, in steps, until 2029. The energy contribution, 0.19261 c€ per kWh excluding VAT that funded social security, disappears on electricity as on gas. Infor GazElec, a Brussels consumer information service, published on 23 June 2026 the trajectory voted by the Chamber on 28 May. We converted it into an annual amount for 3,500 kWh.

Our figures match those of Test-Achats, published on 2 September 2026: 170.66 € a year after 1 August and a 42.32 € saving in 2029. They leave the ratchet aside.

This cut does not make energy less taxed overall. Gas and heating oil take over: +18.17 € from this year for a gas-heated household using 17,000 kWh, a rise that reaches 77.45 € a year in 2029. Test-Achats concludes that the average household, gas and electricity combined, will pay about 35 € more in 2029 than before the reform, and speaks of "an increase in taxation" rather than a transfer. An all-electric household, with a heat pump or an electric car, comes out ahead, all the more so as it consumes more.

The logic is not only about the budget. EU rules require VAT on fossil fuels to return to 21 % by 2030, Test-Achats points out, and the EU carbon market extended to heating, planned for 2028, will make gas and heating oil markedly more expensive. Rather than a sudden VAT jump, the government chose to load the excise on those two fuels gradually and to lighten it on electricity. The signal is clear for anyone torn between a boiler and a heat pump: the tax gap between the two will widen every year until 2029, at the expense of gas. For a household using 7,000 kWh of electricity with a heat pump, the excise saving reaches about 85 € a year in 2029, twice the typical household's.

Recipients of the social tariff are the big winners on electricity. According to Infor GazElec, their excise falls from 25.04 € to about 1.06 € per MWh.

Taxes on a 3,500 kWh bill, line by line

Out of 1,350 € a year, about 237 € is purely federal taxation, 18 % of the bill. The rest of the public levies is folded into network tariffs and does not show separately.

VAT is derived from the Test-Achats 1,350 €, excise from its amount including VAT (170.66 €), the Walloon fee from the ORES tariff sheet (0.075 c€ per kWh).

The federal contribution deserves a line of its own. The CREG, the federal electricity and gas regulator, confirms it was abolished as of 31 December 2021 and replaced by the special excise duty, which funds the same schemes (the CPAS social energy fund, protected customers, nuclear decommissioning, the CREG's running costs). Several online guides still present it as a tax in force.

Three regions, three ways of levying

VAT and excise are federal and the same everywhere. Regional surcharges change with the address, and most of them hide in the network charges billed by the grid operator (the DSO, or GRD in French).

• Wallonia: the connection fee, 0.075 c€ per kWh, appears on the bill and feeds the regional Energy Fund. The surcharge funding green certificates and the road fee paid to municipalities are built into the distribution tariffs of ORES, RESA or the other DSOs, according to the CWaPE, the Walloon energy regulator, on its page updated on 6 August 2026.
• Flanders: the Energy Fund contribution stays at 0 € in 2026 for an individual at their main residence, according to Ecopower. It does apply to second homes and to addresses where nobody is registered. Public service obligations are included in Fluvius tariffs, alongside the capacity tariff.
• Brussels: Sibelga includes a "taxes and levies" line of 1.42 c€ per kWh in 2026, which covers the road fee, plus a regional public service obligation contribution of 2.09 € a month for a 9.6 to 13 kVA meter, according to Infor GazElec on 9 January 2026.

Should you choose your supplier based on taxes?

No. VAT, excise and regional surcharges are identical at Engie, Luminus, Mega, OCTA+ and every other supplier for a given address, and none of them has any room for manoeuvre on these lines, just as with the charges of the grid operator. The only rate switch that matters is the type of contract: a self-employed person who signs a business contract moves from 6 to 21 %.

Competition only plays on the energy component, and that is where the gap widens, well beyond the 48 € VAT advantage. Our ranking of the best electricity suppliers compares that component offer by offer, and the bill simulator puts a figure on your case by region. If your last bill surprised you, our guide to an adjustment bill that looks too high helps you sort out what comes from taxes, from the instalment and from your consumption.