Using the circumstellar envelope parameters (mean temperature, extent and opacity) derived by fitting theoretical energy distributions to those observed in a sample of 20 Be stars, we estimate the respective magnitude difference ΔV = V – V* of the continuum flux excess produced by their circumstellar envelopes. Using then the HIPPARCOS parallaxes of these stars and the ISM E(B-V) colour excesses derived with the surrounding normal B stars, we estimate the visual absolute magnitude of the central objects in the program Be stars. In most cases the results obtained are in good agreement with the absolute magnitudes obtained from the photospheric (λ1, D) components derived in the BCD spectrophotometric system. There are, however, strong discrepancies in 4 program stars which deserve further studies. The magnitude excess seems to be ΔV ≲ 0 for the higher effective temperatures only. There is no correlation between ΔV and Vsin i, as would be expected if the circumstellar envelopes were strongly flattened.