Thuisbord

6 minute read

Net metering ends on 1 January 2027: what does it mean for you?

On 1 January 2027, net metering for solar panels ends in the Netherlands. What changes for households, what the feed-in compensation is and what you can do.

By Thuisbord

Do you have solar panels? Then your energy bill changes on 1 January 2027: from that day, Dutch net metering (salderen) ends. This piece explains what that means, what replaces it and what you can do yourself. It is general information, not personal financial advice: the effect depends on your contract and your use.

What is net metering?

Solar panels produce mostly during the day and mostly in summer. Whatever you do not use at that moment goes onto the grid. Under net metering, you may offset that exported power against the power you take from the grid at another time, for example in the evening or in winter.

The Dutch government gives an example: a household that feeds 2.500 kWh back into the grid in summer may use 2.500 kWh in winter without paying electricity costs, network costs or energy tax for it. Exported power is thus worth as much as power you buy.

What changes on 1 January 2027?

You can still use net metering up to and including 31 December 2026. From 1 January 2027, the power you feed back is no longer offset against your use. This is set out in the act that ends net metering (Wet beëindiging salderingsregeling), which the Dutch Senate passed in December 2024.

This applies to every household with solar panels, including those whose fixed-term contract runs past that date.

What replaces it?

For all the power you feed back, your energy supplier pays you a compensation: the feed-in compensation (terugleververgoeding). The law says it has to be reasonable. Until 1 January 2030 it is at least 50% of the price you pay for electricity without energy tax and VAT, the so-called bare supply rate. On top of that, averaged over a month, the compensation may not be negative.

A worked example with a made-up price: if you pay € 0,10 per kWh before taxes, then until 2030 you get at least € 0,05 for every kWh you feed back. A kWh you take from the grid costs a good deal more than that € 0,10 once energy tax and VAT are added. So the gap between buying power and feeding it back grows.

After 1 January 2030, the 50% minimum no longer applies. The compensation still has to be reasonable.

And feed-in costs?

Many suppliers also charge feed-in costs (terugleverkosten): an amount per kWh fed back, for the costs they make to handle that power. That remains allowed after 1 January 2027. Suppliers then have to charge those costs to the households that feed back, not to other customers. The regulator ACM supervises this: both the compensation and the feed-in costs must be reasonable.

Note that according to ConsuWijzer, the ACM's consumer site, feed-in costs can sometimes exceed the compensation. So check your contract, or your supplier's letter, for the feed-in compensation and feed-in costs that apply from 2027. If you are not happy, you can switch supplier; with a fixed-term contract, check the terms for ending it.

What does this mean for you?

The core is simple: after 2027, a kWh you use yourself while the sun shines is worth more than a kWh you feed back. Milieu Centraal, the Dutch public information centre on energy, gives two figures. With a fixed or variable contract, power you generate yourself is often three to four times cheaper than power you buy. And households with solar panels use about 30% of their solar power themselves on average. There is room to do better.

What helps:

  • Moving appliances to the sun. Run the washing machine, the dishwasher and the dryer when the panels produce a lot. Preferably one after the other rather than all at once. An appliance's delayed start makes this easier.
  • Charging the car with solar power, if you can charge an electric car at home during the day.
  • Watching the price on a dynamic contract. Prices then change every hour or even every quarter of an hour. On sunny afternoons power is often cheap, and sometimes the price is even negative: feeding power back then costs money. According to Milieu Centraal it can then sometimes be better to switch the panels off for a while.

What about a home battery?

A home battery lets you use daytime solar power in the evening. That sounds logical, but Milieu Centraal is cautious. An average 6 kWh home battery costs a few thousand euros including the inverter and installation, and at the moment you will most likely not earn it back through savings on your electricity bill. Making a battery also takes a lot of energy and raw materials. Milieu Centraal finds using more of your solar power directly better for the environment than buying a battery.

We give no buying advice here.

Are solar panels still worth it?

According to Milieu Centraal, yes: solar panels still pay off and earn themselves back within their lifetime. The Dutch government points out that the payback time may be longer after 2027. That depends on the price of the panels and of power, and on how much of your solar power you use yourself.

How a screen at home helps

Using power while the sun shines sounds simple. In practice, only whoever opens the inverter's app knows what the panels produce right now. The rest of the household does not, and so the dishwasher runs in the evening.

That is what Thuisbord is made for. The screen in the kitchen or living room shows at a glance whether your home is feeding power back or taking it from the grid, and how much. On a dynamic contract, you see when power is cheap and expensive today. One line of advice turns that into something everyone understands, such as: "The sun gives more than you use. Turn on the dishwasher now." Nobody has to keep an eye on it all day: whoever walks past sees it.

Thuisbord switches nothing itself: no devices, no battery and no panels. It shows what is happening, so you can choose. Thuisbord is still in development; the home page tells you more.

Sources

All sources are in Dutch, checked on 8 October 2026.

Back to the blog