How to save on water and electricity bills in Brussels?

Updated June 13, 2024 by Pierre

How to save on water and electricity bills in Brussels?

With soaring prices, it is not not always easy to keep your bills under control.  Consumption bills energy et water weigh increasingly heavy on the household budget bfrom ruxello.

Many of our readers read their invoices carefully and study the various costs in detail in order to be able to keep an eye on developments. If you are looking for good ideas to reduce your bills such as Vivaqua, Engie, etc., this article should interest you. Find below steps to take to help you. We have identified 3 types of gestures

• Gestures that do not require no investments. 
• Easy-to-adopt gestures without a big budget to lower the bill
• Gestures that require large investments to drastically reduce bills

In this article, we do not cover topics such as how to lower your gas or diesel bill. If you are interested, read our article on get around Brussels by bike.

Here are our tips to best prepare your accommodation in Brussels:

0. The first step to adopt

You have to start somewhere to lower your energy bills. The first thing to do does not require more than 5 minutes per month… Read your meters. Do you have any idea how many m³ bywater do you use each year? What is your power consumption in kWh/annual? Same for the gas. If you have no idea…un small monthly passage in the cellar as well as a simple Excel file could help you.

Once you have read the meters, you will be easy to know if your bills are high because you are wasting energy or not.

1. Reduce my energy bills without spending too much

If you notice that your consumption is too high, you need to take action. Here's how to reduce your water, electricity and gas consumption simply. All without spending too much.

1.1 Adopt eco-gestures on the water bill

kevin Baquerizo on unsplash, saving water in Brussels

Vivaqua has it announced, the addition of water will be salty for some… In 2023, the rates of water will increase in Brussels by 14,5%. Next year the increase will be 4,1% in 2024 and finally to 2% in 2025 as in 2026.

It is therefore important to find the right actions to reduce your water bill. You want to reduce your consumption without paying and while having fun, here are the daily eco-gestures. The whole family bfrom russell can participate, here are the simplest:

• Check that your toilets do not flow
• Take showers instead of baths
• Do not let run water unnecessarily (for example when you do the dishes)
• Install a shower head that uses less water (some brands such as GROHE sell shower heads that save you up to 50%)
• Use the economical flush
• Stop washing your car with drinking water

Don't miss the Prime Renolution for sanitary facilities, the supply and installation or replacement of sanitary appliances in Brussels (washbasin, washbasin, shower, bath, sink, toilet, bidet). To get a nice discount on your new shower!

1.2 Simple actions to reduce my gas bill

The gas bill weighs on you… Simple gestures can help you:

• Decrease it 1° heating thermostat
• put a sweater
• Don't heat up at night, or bring the thermostat down, for example, to 16 degrees
• Do not heat open windows, ventilate for less time
• Install a smart thermostat if you don't already have one. For a few hundred euros, the thermostat will no longer heat if it detects that you are away.
• Check window seals. Sometimes just a little draft cools your whole room

Do not miss Neuf-Brisach's the bonus on the installation of a new thermostat. A smart thermostat could save you a lot of money by only heating the strict toilet bag in your Brussels accommodation.

1.3 Simple actions to reduce my electricity bill

It is common to know the amount you pay each month to Engie, but it is rare to have in mind the number of kWh that you consume. The first thing to do is to take note of your consumption. Then, here are the steps to take:

• Check if a change of energy supplier can make you money
• Turn off the light when you're not in the room
• Install a timer in the stairwells to automatically turn off the lights
• Change your bulbs by energy saving bulbs. You will sometimes save 50% of the consumption of the bulbs.
• turn them off standby devices (ex: TV, computer, phone charger etc.)
• Less homeworking if you are using a PC

2. Invest to reduce my energy costs

You have performed all of the above actions and you want to do more ? You have more than budget ? This part should interest you. The good news is that if you live in Brussels you are entitled to premiums to help you reduce your consumption. You do not dream, the Brussels region will reimburse part of the bill!

If your building is poorly insulated, your boiler is too old… the performance of the building will have a direct impact on your bill as well as on your comfort.

Do not miss to look at the Renolution.brussels site which is the new platform which brings together all the information useful for obtaining the bonuses

There are Premiums for any type of building (single-family, apartment buildings, businesses, shops, etc.)

For example, here is a table summarizing the premiums for heating:

Type	Details	earnings
		Cat. I	How. yl	Cat. III
Heat pump for heating	Air/water	€ 4.500	€ 4750	€ 5.000
Heat pump for heating	Water/water or Geothermal (ground/water)	€ 5.800	€ 6.150	€ 6.500
Low temperature radiators	-	75 € per unit	125 € per unit	200 € per unit
Installation of thermostatic valves	-	15 € per piece	25 € per piece	40 € per piece
Installation of a thermostat or an optimizer	-	40 € per piece	70 € per piece	100 € per piece
Solar water heater	minimum of 2 m² of solar panels	€ 2.500	€ 3.000	€ 3.500
Thermodynamic water heater	-	€ 1.400	€ 1.500	€ 1.600