When you join an energy community, it is perfectly normal to have questions about billing. Contrary to popular belief, becoming a member of an energy community does not mean cutting ties with your usual electricity supplier: the community complements your electricity contract, it does not replace it.
Once you are a member, you receive two types of bills:
Your traditional supplier
(Engie, Luminus, Mega, Eneco, etc.)
Continues to bill you for the share of your consumption not covered by the community. This bill very often works on estimated monthly instalments, after which a final annual settlement is drawn up on the basis of your actual consumption.
The energy-sharing operation
(such as Energilia)
The energy-sharing operation (such as Energilia) only bills you for the electricity you consume via the local grid, produced by other members of the operation (solar panels, cogeneration, etc.). Here, no instalments: you pay each month for your actual consumption, calculated from the precise readings from your meter.
💡 A concrete example: before and after joining Energilia
Situation before joining the operation:
- The company Oufti consumes 300 kWh per month.
- It is solely a customer of its energy supplier.
- It pays a fixed monthly instalment of €100, based on an annual estimate.
- The average rate is €0.30/kWh, which indeed corresponds to a consumption of 300 kWh/month.
- At the end of the year, it receives a settlement: either a refund (if it consumed less) or an additional amount to pay (if it consumed more).
Before Energilia:
🔁 Monthly instalment = €100
💬 No link to its actual monthly consumption
🧾 Settlement at the end of the year
After joining Energilia:
- Oufti still consumes 300 kWh per month.
- Since becoming a member of the Energilia community:
- 120 kWh/month comes from the solar panels installed on the roof of the local chip shop (via Energilia).
- 180 kWh/month is still supplied by PartielEnergies.
- The Energilia community bills only actual consumption, with no instalments.
- The rates:
- Energilia: €0.18/kWh
- PartielEnergies: €0.30/kWh
- Its instalment with PartielEnergies stays at €100/month for the time being, but its actual consumption falls (it consumes less from them!), so it will receive a refund at the end of the year.
Each month:
- Actual Energilia bill:
120 kWh × €0.18 = €21.60, paid the following month - Instalment from its energy supplier:
stays at €100, but its actual consumption is now only 180 kWh → i.e. €54 of actual value
Total paid out this month:
€100 (instalment) + €21.60 (actual) = €121.60
At the end of the year (over 12 months):
- Martin paid: 12 × €100 = €1,200 to his energy supplier
- His actual consumption via his energy supplier: 12 × 180 kWh × €0.30 = €648
- He receives a refund of €552 from his energy supplier
- He also paid: 12 × €21.60 = €259.20 to Energilia
Total actually paid over the year:
€648 (energy supplier) + €259.20 (Energilia) = €907.20
🧮 Before Energilia, Martin paid: €1,200
🎉 After Energilia, he actually pays: €907.20
💸 Annual saving: €292.80
⚠️ But bear in mind that Oufti operates in Tournai, not Lisbon. Sunshine in Belgium varies greatly with the seasons. So it will not receive exactly 120 kWh/month all year round:
- In winter, local production might cover only 40 to 60 kWh.
- In summer, it can climb to 150 or even 180 kWh.
In short, in our example the sun is not on a permanent contract, but when it does show up, it means business! 😄
🔍 No need to worry: at Energilia we anticipate all of this
At Energilia, we know that every consumption profile is unique. That is why our operational partner, RaYSun, carries out a personalised study before any membership:
✅ Analysis of your quarter-hourly consumption files where available, or otherwise a simulation based on the available data
✅ Review of your recent bills
✅ Simulation of your savings potential on an actual/projected basis (new building or without a smart meter)
The result: you know in advance whether joining the community is worthwhile for you – fully transparent, with no unnecessary commitment.
This dual-billing system may seem surprising at first, but it allows resources to be shared out more effectively. It also gives you a way to reduce your overall energy bill by consuming more locally and sustainably while lowering your instalments. By choosing this model, you support a more community-minded approach to energy, while keeping the security of a traditional supplier to cover your remaining needs.