Tungsten oxide (WO x ) can be incorporated into amorphous/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells as hole contact and for interface modification between p-type amorphous silicon and indium tin oxide. This paper aims at understanding the influence of tungsten oxides properties on silicon heterojunction solar cells. Using in-system photoelectron spectroscopy on thermally evaporated WO x layers, it was verified that WO x with a stoichiometry close to WO 3 features a work function close to 6 eV and is therefore suitable as hole contact on silicon. Additionally the oxygen vacancy concentration in WO x was measured using photoelectron spectroscopy. High oxygen vacancy concentrations in WO x lead to a low band bending in the WO x /silicon-junction. Furthermore solar cells were fabricated using the same WO x , and the band bending in these cells is correlated with their fill factors (FF) and open circuit voltages (V OC ).Combining these results, the following picture arises: Positively charged oxygen vacancies raise the Fermi-level in WO x and reduce the band bending at the WO x /silicon-junction. This, in turn, leads to reduced V OC and FF. Thus, when incorporating WO x into silicon solar cells it is important to minimize the oxygen vacancy density in WO x . Therefore deposition methods, enabling adjustment of the WO x stoichiometry are preferable.