New tariff system for the Electricity TSO

On 1 June 2007, the Belgian federal government held its last cabinet meeting before the elections of next Sunday. During this meeting, the draft royal decree laying down the procedures for the setting of the electricity transmission system tariffs of Elia was adopted (French text), thus executing the new provisions of the Electricity Act of 29 April 1999, as modified by the Act of 1 June 2005.

Because of the federal elections, the King will not sign this royal decree until the formation of a new government has succeeded. Consequently, it might not enter into force before the fall.

The new royal decree also develops the “four years” tariffs, allowing greater stability for the use of the transmission system.

However, it appeared from an article in the Flemish newspaper De Standaard (registration required) that in its advice on the draft royal decree the Council of State was very critical on the possibility of setting tariffs for four years. This seems strange, since this new tariffs-system was one of the cornerstones of the Act of 1 June 2005.

New tariff system for the Electricity TSO