I got this email from Luminus today… as far as I understand, they’re raising my prices fivefold. How is this legal???

29 comments

  3. Why would you even think this is illegal???
    Have you watched any news in the last month or so?

    They have to pay more, so they increase their prices….

  8. Some politician came blabbing in the media you can alwayes refuse but you will get a hefty settling bill. Not sure if it’s correct.
    Things will get mich worse though.

  9. Legal obviously yes, this is just your contract renewal. Your previous is ending on 01/04/2022 obviously. They’re putting you on an infinite duration variable. It’s usually not very bad, but you should def compare the tariff’s they’re offering you to the market.

  11. I pay just below 0,3€ per kwh all included. You can get that price to, just check ecopower.

    Are you sure the old price is right? Seems awfuly low for electricity.

  13. wait, are these the total prices, or what Luminus charges you?
    Has it really gotten this expensive?
    I had a 5 cent price for night/day/strict night last year in my old place.
    Has it really gone 8x already?

  15. If I may give my view as a Belgian living in Ireland: the old prices were ridiculously low and I understand why the relative increase is so high.

    To compare: for the last 3 years and until July this year I paid 0.21 EUR/kWh and it is now 0.33. Mine has increased close to your level price wise but as I have been paying more for years, the difference is not as high but still 50%.

    Also, your standing charge (vaste vergoeding) is 72.6 per year where mine is 225 EUR

    Having very low prices for so many years causes a high relapse once gross energy prices rise enormously and this is what is happening now. As has been reported widely, many companies in Belgium were selling under market price to get customers and some of those have now gone bankrupt. In Ireland, so far, none have gone bankrupt or in are in danger of doing so.

    To clarify: I of course also do not like paying high energy prices but I understand why this happened.

  17. I used way less energy than expected (they payed me back hundreds of euro’s when i passed my meter values)
    Yet they doubled the monthly rate.
    Crazy increase in prices

  18. There is going to be alot of energy poverty in 2022. Many are still forced to work home, so consumption is very high and many are rolling on new contracts.

  19. Yesterday in dutch news they mentioned that the gas reserve there will be depleted in weeks. So any harsh cold event or that war nonsense and you will be glad to locked in for a year again. Little hope that anything will change anytime soon.

  20. Your total won’t go fivefold as the distribution cost won’t increase and that used to be about half of the total cost.

    Electricity used to be dirt cheap and was used as a hidden tax bill. Now electricity is expensive and the hidden tax bill is still there.

  21. You contract is renewing. You had an old cheaper contract because you signed a contract back when prices were low and had that price fixed.
    Since then prices have skyrocketed. You will have a huge increase in price literally anywhere you go right now. Not only is this perfectly legal, this is how a contract renewal has always worked, when a contract renews, it is renewed at current retail prices, whoch can be lower or higher. And rightfully so, or no energy provider would ever be able to stay in business.

    Its just a very unusual situation with the enormous energy price hike and everyone falls victim to it.

    The actual energy price is approx 1/3 of your energy bill. Most of ot is for the Netbeheerder and de overheid.

  23. Wat ik niet zo goed snap is dat Luminus claimed dat ze 100% Belgische groene elektriciteit leveren, hoe kan zoiets dan plots duurder worden? De wind/zon is toch niet duurder geworden? Ik snap dat gas prijzen enzo duurder zijn, en dat ze wss nog zullen stijgen met alles wat er in Rusland gebeurd, maar dat hoort toch totaal geen impact te hebben op groene energie die hier gemaakt wordt?

  26. Hi, I’m working in energy and communication, I might be able to provide an insight.
    Energy and gas prices have been through the roof for the last year.
    If you had a Fix priced contract until now and it’s end date is coming soon, then indeed your prices will suddenly go up a lot. This is because of new legislation prohibitting suppliers of prolonging dormant contracts. They legally have to review your contract and give you their best current match to yours. In this pricing climate that law sucks, but if it becomes cheaper, it keeps suppliers from charging more expensive prices in those dormant contracts.
    If you receive mails to say your pre-payments are going up, my advice would be to take it to avoid surprises at the end of year. If you don’t want this, you ALWAYS have the option to tell the supplier you don’t want to raise it. Give them a call and they will stop the change.

    Edit: clarification

  27. My new tarif is 450 euros a month for gas and electricity. I paid 150 a month last year for both. I don’t know how I will do…

  28. Okay, update, contacted Luminus customer service, and apparantly, if you contact them in the first week of every month, you can get the prices for the next month. If those prices are lower than the prices you’re paying now, you can get that lower price.

  29. 100% belgian green energy they call it. How is it that the wind or sun suddenly gets 5 times more expensive. Green energy should be stable. Green energy is BS.

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