Netherlands approves grid fees for rooftop PV system owners

The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has investigated the grid fees that four energy suppliers – Budget Energie, Vattenfall, Eneco and Engie – are currently applying to residential PV system owners. It has concluded that these fees are legitimate.

The authority said the “terugleverkosten” fees depend on higher purchasing costs, higher imbalance costs, and the net-metering costs that the energy suppliers have to deal with when their customers own and operate rooftop PV systems.

It added that the fees are not a source of profits, as the funds collected with them compensate the lower tariffs paid to consumers who do not own PV installations.

The competition regulator also said that PV system owners currently have to deal with complicated contracts offered by the energy suppliers, which makes it difficult to compare them and choose the best option.

“The ACM calls on suppliers and energy comparators to make efforts to improve the comparability of contracts,” the authority said in a statement.

According to www.keuze.nl, a Dutch online platform that allows consumers to compare commercial offers of different kinds, the grid fees could vary between €100 ($107.81) and €697, depending on system size.

The Dutch solar market gained 4.82 GW of new PV capacity in 2023, according to the “Nationaal Solar Trendrapport 2023” study, which was recently published by consultancy Dutch New Energy (DNE) Research. Around 2.5 GW of the new capacity installed last year came in the form of residential installations – up from 2.2 GW a year earlier.