Feed-in costs (terugleverkosten): what are they and how do they work?

Feed-in costs are charges energy suppliers apply for the electricity your solar panels export to the grid. You pay them to your supplier, on top of the normal costs of your energy contract.

Five terms around solar power are often mixed up. Each means something different, so it helps to keep them apart:

Exporting (teruglevering)

The solar power you do not use yourself straight away, which flows to the electricity grid.An amount of energy (kWh) — not an amount of money.

Feed-in compensation (terugleververgoeding)

The amount your energy supplier pays you for the electricity you export.You receive this from your supplier.

Feed-in costs (terugleverkosten)

Charges some energy suppliers apply for processing the electricity you export.You pay this to your supplier, if it charges them.

Net metering (salderen)

Offsetting the electricity you export against the electricity you take from the grid. This scheme ends on 1 January 2027.Settled on your annual statement.

Self-consumption (eigen verbruik)

Solar power you use yourself at the moment it is generated, or later from a battery.Electricity you do not have to buy.

Energy suppliers give several reasons for feed-in costs:

• Lower value during sunny hours

  On sunny moments many households export at the same time. The market value of electricity can then be low or even negative.

• Procurement and imbalance costs

  Suppliers have to estimate in advance how much electricity customers will use and export. Deviations, and the gap between cheap exports and later procurement, can cause extra costs.

• Allocating costs

  The ACM has established that suppliers can incur extra costs for customers with solar panels. Those costs may be passed on, as long as the overall rates stay reasonable.

The ACM points to higher procurement costs, imbalance costs and costs associated with the net metering scheme, among others. Feed-in costs are therefore not a separate grid or congestion tariff. Suppliers may pass costs on, but their rates may not be unreasonable. The Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) supervises this.

The amount differs per supplier and contract. Some suppliers charge an amount per exported kWh, others a fixed amount per month, sometimes depending on how much you export. That makes comparing difficult, which is why the ACM has called on suppliers and comparison sites to make contracts easier to compare.

You can see how much you export on your annual statement or in your supplier’s app or online account.

Feed-in costs are linked to how much electricity you export. There are several ways to reduce that:

• Use more electricity yourself

  Match your consumption to the moments when your panels are generating.

• Consider a home battery

  Store electricity generated during the day and use it later, in the evening for example.

• Control appliances smartly

  Run the washing machine, the hot water tank or a charging point while the sun is shining.

• Compare contracts

  Look at feed-in costs and feed-in compensation together, and consider whether a dynamic contract suits you.

Net metering ends on 1 januari 2027. You can no longer offset exported electricity against your use; you receive a feed-in compensation for it instead. Feed-in costs do not automatically disappear with it. So after 2027, keep checking how your supplier handles the costs of exporting and what that means, together with the feed-in compensation, for your contract as a whole. Read more in Net metering ends in 2027: what changes?