Photovoltaic panels in Belgium: near the end of the compensation scheme?

A number of changes have been brought in since 1 January 2020, causing great confusion among owners of photovoltaic panels. The end of the compensation scheme for the consumption/feed-in of self-produced energy is now effective in the Brussels Region . In parallel, the number of green certificates granted to prosumers is expected to fall. The same can be seen in Wallonia where the prosumer tariff came into force on 1 October 2020, despite an attempt by the Walloon government to postpone this measure until 2025. Flanders, meanwhile, is planning a gradual exit.

Until now, the compensation scheme had been one of the incentives implemented in Belgium to encourage households to fit photovoltaic panels. Under this system, the solar electricity fed into the network is deducted from the electricity bill, in terms of both electricity purchased and network usage costs.

However, the “Electricity market design” European Directive, adopted in June 2019, encourages Member States to abandon this compensation scheme by 2023. The objective is to ensure that all consumers contribute to the network costs equally, regardless of whether they have solar panels or not. This withdrawal from the compensation scheme began in Belgium in 2020. However, the measures vary from region to region. They often take the form of an “injection tax”, like the prosumer tariff in Wallonia.

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The end of the compensation scheme

Sibelga, the Brussels distribution network operator (DNO), has ended the principle of the “meter that runs backwards” (also called the compensation scheme) with effect from 1 January 2020. The Brussels Region is the first to implement this withdrawal.