We’ll be paying too much for our power: Lanotte

Mr Vande Lanotte says he can’t understand the thinking behind the measure: "We worked hard to create this mechanism. The industry is familiar with it. It has also yielded result. We hear that the federation of electricity and gas companies is behind the move."

Mr Vande Lanotte also condemns plans to keep Doel 1 and 2, the country’s oldest nuclear reactors, open for longer: "This will require an enormous investment and the cost will be handed on to the consumer. This is a present for Electrabel. It will benefit the generator and the supplier and damage the consumer."

The socialist minister favours the proposal launched by Elia, the company that operates the Belgian power grid.

This would involve the construction of a link to the Dutch power plant in Maastricht.

Building the link would take three months and in this way Mr Vande Lanotte believes Belgium would have access to cheap energy: "During the past two and a half years electricity prices fell. If the proposals now on the table are implemented we will enter a period during which we will pay too much for our energy."

Flandersnews.be / Expatica