GDF Suez cuts Belgian prices

Electrabel, Belgium’s dominant electricity and gas provider, is to cut prices next year after losing customers in an increasingly competitive market, reports Reuters’ Philip Blenkinsop. GDF Suez SA said it would cut electricity prices by up to 10 percent and gas prices by as much as 16 percent for 3.2 million customers. It said yesterday that it was doing so despite significantly higher market prices for energy since the government imposed an end-user price freeze in April. Electrabel and other energy providers faced criticism at the start of the year as gas prices rose in line with oil, a link to be loosened by new rules next April, prompting the government to impose the price freeze. In April, Electrabel scrapped a €50 penalty imposed on customers leaving before their contracts had expired and a number of households have since switched providers. The company said it had lost 400,000 electricity and 200,000 gas customers this year, though it has since won back around 100,000 in each category. Electricity prices in Belgium are about 50 percent higher than in France, where prices are heavily regulated. The same two French utilities – GDF Suez and EDF – supply the bulk of consumers in both markets. More recent competitors in Belgium include Essent, Nuon and Lampiris.