{"id":1974,"date":"2026-05-21T09:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T07:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/certipower.be\/kennisbank\/mileage-allowance-versus-actual-charging-costs\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T21:16:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T19:16:28","slug":"mileage-allowance-versus-actual-charging-costs","status":"publish","type":"kennisbank","link":"https:\/\/certipower.be\/en\/kennisbank\/mileage-allowance-versus-actual-charging-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Reimbursing split billing: at the CREG rate or the actual energy rate?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Anyone charging a company car at home pays for that electricity first. The employer must reimburse that cost correctly.<\/p>\n

How to do so is up for debate: do you reimburse at the reference rate published by the CREG, or at the employee\u2019s actual energy rate? The difference seems technical, but it determines whether your scheme scales and whether it survives an audit.<\/p>\n

Two ways to reimburse home charging<\/h2>\n
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Option 1<\/span>CREG rate<\/strong>One rate for the whole fleet, automatically adjusted every quarter.<\/span>Workable standard<\/span><\/div>\n
Option 2<\/span>Actual energy rate<\/strong>A different rate per employee, every month again.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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01<\/div>\n
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Reimbursing at the CREG rate<\/h3>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Key takeaway:<\/strong> the CREG rate assumes a monthly peak of 7.36 kW. Without smart chargers at your employees\u2019 homes, their actual cost is higher than the rate covers.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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02<\/div>\n
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Reimbursing at the actual energy rate<\/h3>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Key takeaway:<\/strong> 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.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

When to choose what?<\/h2>\n
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Company car, employer\u2019s charger<\/span>CREG rate<\/strong>Combined with smart chargers that limit the monthly peak.<\/span><\/div>\n
Private car, business use<\/span>Mileage allowance<\/strong>It also covers wear, insurance and depreciation of the car itself.<\/span><\/div>\n
Company car, own charger<\/span>CREG rate plus allowance<\/strong>Agree in writing upfront on the allowance for buying the charger.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Unsure which scheme suits your fleet?<\/strong>Our fleet specialist calculates the impact based on your actual fleet.<\/span><\/div>\n
Have your scheme reviewed<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Worked example<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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Reimbursement at the CREG rate<\/span>4,500 kWh \u00d7 quarterly rate<\/strong>One rate for the whole fleet, verifiable through the charger\u2019s measurement.<\/span><\/div>\n
Flat-rate mileage allowance<\/span>25,000 km \u00d7 flat rate<\/strong>That flat rate also covers depreciation, maintenance and insurance of a private car.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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

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The rule of thumb: an allowance that clearly covers more than the energy cost is no longer an energy allowance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The workable standard for company cars<\/h2>\n

For company cars, the CREG rate is the workable standard: fiscally accepted, scalable across an entire fleet and verifiable through the charger\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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Measure<\/strong>Consumption per user and per location, without estimates.<\/span><\/div>\n
Split billing<\/strong>Your employee pays nothing upfront and submits no receipts. How split billing works<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
Install<\/strong>At the employee\u2019s home, on the company site and on the road.<\/span><\/div>\n
My.Certipower<\/strong>Consumption and costs per user and per location, without Excel.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The rules are explained in reimbursement of employee charging costs<\/a>. For the full cost of an electric car, read the TCO of an electric company car over 4 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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No obligation<\/div>\n

Is your reimbursement policy up to scratch?<\/p>\n

We calculate the impact based on your actual fleet and journeys.<\/p>\n