I live in Belgium and my house was cold all winter because I couldn’t afford the price spike.

A villa, not an apartment?

I live far to the north, in an apartment, and didn't notice anything this winter, wherever I went. But I heard someone in their villa here nearby actually moved elsewhere, over the winter, because of the high cost of heating

I guess someone who owns a villa in Belgium doesn't really have to worry about electricity prices :P

Villa just means house in that context, I believe

I am 'owner' of a villa in Belgium. Villas in Belgium vary between 250K to 750K for a normal family 3 to 4 bedroom house. Typically a house has 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom. The price is very dependent on the location! Well we saw the monthly gas+elec price of 150 euros before the crisis, suddenly go 6-fold, so we did worry a lot. We decreased our heating a few degrees and used a lot more bio fuel during winter. Lately the price is about 3 or 4 fold the price of before the crisis.

Edit: by villa we typically mean a house that is not adjacent to another house.

750K US or Euros?

I visited Germany and honestly I felt pretty uncomfortable most of the time. I could tell that people were conserving on heating - everywhere from public buildings to restaurants to where I was staying.

It certainly was much colder at my public sector employer in Germany. My hands turned blue in my office and I had to wear fingerless gloves some of the time.

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Here in France it was the first winter where the cold actually bothered me, and the first time I had to heat in 5 years.