Anyone charging a company car at home pays for that electricity first. The employer must reimburse that cost correctly.

How to do so is up for debate: do you reimburse at the reference rate published by the CREG, or at the employee’s actual energy rate? The difference seems technical, but it determines whether your scheme scales and whether it survives an audit.

Two ways to reimburse home charging

Option 1CREG rateOne rate for the whole fleet, automatically adjusted every quarter.Workable standard
Option 2Actual energy rateA different rate per employee, every month again.
01

Reimbursing at the CREG rate

Every quarter, the CREG publishes a reference rate per region for reimbursing home charging. The FPS Finance accepts this rate. You multiply the consumption measured by the charger by this rate and pay out the amount.

Key takeaway: the CREG rate assumes a monthly peak of 7.36 kW. Without smart chargers at your employees’ homes, their actual cost is higher than the rate covers.
02

Reimbursing at the actual energy rate

You reimburse exactly what the electricity cost that employee at that moment. On paper, the purest model. In practice, nobody knows their actual rate at the moment of charging: fixed and variable contracts, day and night rates, capacity tariff, own solar power.

Key takeaway: a different rate per employee means discussion every month and administration that does not scale. That is why Certipower does not bill at the actual energy rate.

When to choose what?

Company car, employer’s chargerCREG rateCombined with smart chargers that limit the monthly peak.
Private car, business useMileage allowanceIt also covers wear, insurance and depreciation of the car itself.
Company car, own chargerCREG rate plus allowanceAgree in writing upfront on the allowance for buying the charger.
Unsure which scheme suits your fleet?Our fleet specialist calculates the impact based on your actual fleet.
Have your scheme reviewed

Worked example

An employee with an electric company car drives 25,000 km per year, has a home charger from the employer and charges around 4,500 kWh at home.

Reimbursement at the CREG rate4,500 kWh × quarterly rateOne rate for the whole fleet, verifiable through the charger’s measurement.
Flat-rate mileage allowance25,000 km × flat rateThat flat rate also covers depreciation, maintenance and insurance of a private car.

Applying the flat rate to an employee who already has a company car will almost certainly be requalified as disguised salary during an audit.

The rule of thumb: an allowance that clearly covers more than the energy cost is no longer an energy allowance.

The workable standard for company cars

For company cars, the CREG rate is the workable standard: fiscally accepted, scalable across an entire fleet and verifiable through the charger’s measurement. The actual energy rate sounds fairer, but cannot be determined objectively in practice. The flat-rate mileage allowance belongs to private cars used for business, not to company cars.

MeasureConsumption per user and per location, without estimates.
Split billingYour employee pays nothing upfront and submits no receipts. How split billing works
InstallAt the employee’s home, on the company site and on the road.
My.CertipowerConsumption and costs per user and per location, without Excel.

The rules are explained in reimbursement of employee charging costs. For the full cost of an electric car, read the TCO of an electric company car over 4 years.

No obligation

Is your reimbursement policy up to scratch?

We calculate the impact based on your actual fleet and journeys.

  • Review of your current reimbursement scheme
  • Impact of the CREG rate on your fleet
  • A proposal with costs and savings in euros
Schedule a call+32 51 15 30 15
Prefer email? sales@certipower.be
6.000+charging points
98%customer satisfaction
7/7support

This information is based on the tax rules and rates in force at the time of publication. The CREG rate is adjusted every quarter. Have your scheme checked by your social secretariat or tax advisor.