A family aiming to be as sustainable as possible in their new home were shocked by their electricity bill, criticising the government's lack of transparency regarding the cost increase.
On 1 May 2022, in the midst of the pandemic and after the beginning of the Ukraine invasion, the first energy price caps came into force in Luxembourg. As 2023 came around, the price caps expired and people are slowly starting to feel the change. Amid them is Marc Morocutti, family man and owner of an IT business. In 2020, he moved to a new house with his wife, and they agreed on one thing: sustainability comes first.
"So we got a heat pump, since gas and heating oil are 'outdated', no one uses it anymore. Now I have the whole package. And this year, maybe because they were threatening us with expiring subsidies, we got solar panels. They were installed in October. All in all, we try to do everything that a 'green citizen' should do to be sustainable".
From €265 to €465 – for the same energy consumption
The Morocutti household always receive their energy bill at the beginning of each month. "Luckily I was sitting down, because when I saw it had risen to €465 I almost fell on my butt. Then I saw that I had consumed approximately the same amount. Yet my bill increased from €265 in December to €465 in January."
Without the price cap, the electricity price for average consumption has increased by 60%, according to Statec. Nevertheless, the government has reassured citizens that the rise in electricity costs will be limited to 30%. Lex Delles explains:
"We are doing a 'phasing out', we do not want to have a big price gulp from one day to the next. Therefore we limit it to 30% now, and in 2026, when we know the prices will go down, it won't be necessary any longer."
Government communication lacked transparency
It was not announced properly, complains the family man from Mamer. "Communication was not always transparent. They said the prices would rise a little. A RTL article stated that there would be an increase of 30% for the average user. So I thought, 30%, that's not as noticeable. However, the sudden 75% are completely different."
The IT entrepreneur drives an electric car, and he has an app which monitors the different devices that are charged. His aim is to not surpass the peak reference value.
"My car does not always have to be charged within five minutes. That means, when I see that there is capacity in the network, then I will charge it immediately, if I need to leave again in the evening. However, if I do not leave the house until morning, then I can schedule the car to start charging at 12:30am, when no washing machine, drier, or dishwasher is consuming energy."
"We all need to convert to more sustainable practices, yet this encourages no one"
Upon request, the responsible provider admitted several clients had called them during the past few days due to the considerable increases.
Marc Morocutti regrets the state of the situation: "It is unfortunate that we get our bottom's smacked this way. We have completely converted to electric devices. I do not use gas, nor heating oil, I use clean energy. I do everything I can. And then, I am still punished, even though I have done nothing wrong."
Report in Luxembourgish:
