Who can I submit a complaint to?

1.  First of all, contact the electricity or gas supplier. First contact customer services. If you do not receive a satisfactory reply within reasonable period of time, contact their complaints department.
    
2. Are you dissatisfied with the response? In that case, you can resort to these two mediation bodies:

• the Ombudsman service for Energy (website in French). Recommended for complaints about your energy supplier.
• Brugel (website in French). Recommended for complaints about the distribution system operator, Sibelga.

3. As a last resort, you can start legal proceedings.

Do you have a complaint? If so, go step by step

Step 1: contact the electricity or gas company

Do you have a complaint about electricity or natural gas? First contact the customer services of your energy supplier or of Sibelga. No satisfactory response? In that case, you can submit a written complaint.

You can submit a complaint to your supplier about:

• a quotation (unclear or questionable price proposal),
• a supply contract.
• the bills that you receive (amounts, customer data, etc.),
• infringements of the law (provision of information, provision of services, periods of notice, etc.).

You can contact Sibelga with complaints about:

• the connection to the gas or electricity network,
• opening/closing meters,
• work carried out on a connection or meter(s),
• repair work on the gas or electricity network,
• quotations/price proposal for work to be carried out by Sibelga,
• the quality of the energy supply,
• the public lighting.

Always submit your complaint in writing. At Sibelga you can do this using the online complaint form, by writing to Sibelga, Complaints department, Werkhuizenkaai/Quai des Usines 16, 1000 Brussels; by fax: 02 549 43 34 or by e-mail: complaints@sibelga.be.

Step 2: call in the Ombudsman or Brugel

Only if you do not obtain a satisfactory response to your complaint in step 1 can you submit your complaint to the following bodies.

Complaints about your energy supplier

You can submit complaints to the federal Ombudsman service for Energy. Fill in the online complaints form or send a letter by post to the Ombudsman service for Energy, Boulevard du Roi Albert II 8 boite 6, 1000 Bruxelles or by fax on 02 211 10 69.

Complaints about Sibelga

Submit a complaint to the regulatory body, Brugel. Send your completed complaints form by post to Brugel, Avenue des Arts 46, 1000 Brussels or by e-mail to: info@brugel.be.

Step 3: consider legal proceedings

If both the previous steps fail to produce the required result, you can resort to legal proceedings.

Tips and free advice

• Always submit your complaint in writing (you can telephone first, of course). Keep a copy.
• Preferably use the complaints forms – fill them in legibly.
• Send all the documents and information needed for the matter to be dealt with properly.
• Follow any complaints procedures.
• Submit your complaint on time – within the set periods. For instance, the Ombudsman service does not deal with any complaints submitted more than one year previously.
• If you would like free advice on submitting a complaint, contact Infor Gas Elek (in French), an independent information centre in the Brussels-Capital Region.