The Dutch annual rate of inflation fell slightly in October, when calculated according to EU methods – from 17.1% to 16.8%, national statistics agency CBS said on Monday.

The first estimate using the Dutch methods, which is lower than the EU figure because it includes rental housing costs, will be published on October 8.

The Dutch EU figure, one of the highest in the eurozone, would also be considerably less if the CBS used the actual price households pay for energy in its calculations, rather than the price paid for new contracts.

Around 50% of customers in the Netherlands have not yet seen their bills soar because they are on fixed-rate deals, and the increase will come in next year.

The CBS is currently working on a new way of calculating energy prices, and expects that to be ready next year. ‘There are still a number of uncertainties in the data and the analyses,’ the agency said on Monday.

According to the Financieele Dagblad, the Dutch annual rate of inflation would have been below 10% in August rather than 12%, if worked out using a more accurate interpretation of energy price developments.