In this guide
If you have solar panels, you can offset the power you feed back to the grid against the power you use until 31 December 2026. On 1 January 2027 that scheme, the salderingsregeling (net metering), stops in one go, without a phase-out. The Dutch government confirms the date, and the law has been passed and published in the Staatsblad. That leaves 11 weeks.
What replaces it: your energy supplier pays you a feed-in fee (terugleververgoeding) for every kWh you export. Until 2030 that fee must be at least 50% of the bare supply tariff, meaning the price of electricity without taxes, according to Rijksoverheid. Suppliers may charge feed-in costs (terugleverkosten), but only for costs they actually make to process the power you send back. The ACM, the Dutch consumer and market authority, supervises this.
What stays the same: power you use at the moment your panels produce it never passes through the meter, so it still saves you the full price per kWh. You can also keep exporting your surplus.
What does this mean for you?
Under net metering, every kWh you exported also cancelled the energy tax on a kWh you used later. From 2027 you pay energy tax on all power you take from the grid. The Belastingplan 2027 proposes €0.10648 per kWh including VAT for 2027 (a proposal, not yet passed by parliament). A worked example: if you export 2,000 kWh a year that you now offset, you pay €213 more in energy tax alone in 2027. On top of that comes the gap between your supply tariff and the lower feed-in fee, plus any feed-in costs. How much that is depends on your contract.
Renting? If your landlord installed the panels but the energy contract is in your name, this affects your bill too. If you use most of your solar power during the day, for example because you work from home, you will notice less.
What can you do now?
- Find how many kWh you exported on your last annual statement (jaarafrekening, the line “teruggeleverd”).
- Check what your supplier will pay and charge for exports from 2027. If your fixed contract runs into 2027, read its terms on salderen and feed-in.
- If you are switching anyway, compare offers on feed-in fee and feed-in costs, not just the price per kWh. Our energy contract switching guide explains the steps, and energy providers for expats compares the main suppliers.
- Shift flexible use, like the washing machine or charging a car, to sunny hours.