Fuel oil suppliers are crying out for help: “Don’t take the 200 euros off your bill yourself. Pay them in full!”

Johann Matart, chairman of Brafco, the Belgian union of fuel dealers, says he constantly receives phone calls from fuel dealers about incomplete bills. For example, customers’ fuel oil tank was filled for 1,000 euros this week. But they don’t pay the bill in full. They deducted 200 euros from him and paid only 800 euros. Fuel dealers are at a loss. Because they now have to take the time to pay off the 200 euros in arrears. And when they don’t, they answer the phones about the $200 check promised by the government, while the details remain to be worked out.”

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What exactly is it about? And the federal government announced earlier this week to reduce the value-added tax on electricity and gas from 21 to 6 percent. For electricity, it has already come into force, and for gas it will come into force from April. In this way, the government wants to keep the energy bill fairly affordable for the population.

But with this arrangement, a significant part of the population remains “out in the open”. Because a third of the Flemish and half of the Walloons still heat their homes with fuel oil. The fuel oil supplier still comes to your house there to fill the tank. But fuel oil prices have also exploded in recent months. To help this group, the federal government decided to give a check of 200 euros to each resident.

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Johann Matart says that at the moment, discussions about ways to pay this check are in full swing. Most likely, payment will be made through the central administration of the government and not through fuel suppliers. “But again, there is no point in calling your fuel supplier about it. It won’t be clear until next week.”

Matart says it’s now important for everyone to pay their bills in full. “It doesn’t really make sense and it’s also not legal to deduct €200 from the bill yourself. You will likely only qualify for this check if you can prove that you paid the heating oil bill in full. Again: please pay your bill as your fuel oil supplier charged.” You will definitely not miss your check.”