The Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) of the Netherlands has determined that grid fees for home solar installations are not unreasonably high.
The watchdog has completed its third investigation into the feed-in costs that energy suppliers charge customers with solar panels. Previous investigations also ruled that fees were reasonable, as suppliers also incur costs for the solar power fed back to the grid.
The most recent investigation, first announced in March, was conducted after ACM noted feed-in costs rose around 10% in one month. It involved the watchdog taking information from 16 energy suppliers and conducting on-site visits to five.
ACM’s findings conclude that the costs incurred by different suppliers for fed-in electricity do not differ significantly from one another. However, suppliers were found to be passing costs onto customers in different ways, making it unclear to the customer what they are paying for and making it difficult to compare contracts.
In an update on its website, ACM is urging energy suppliers to charge feed-in costs uniformly, as an amount per kWh fed back into the grid. “This makes it easier for consumers to compare different contracts,” the company said.
The move would tie to ACM’s model contract – a standard contract which all Dutch energy suppliers are required to offer – which will stipulate that energy suppliers must always calculate feed-in costs per kWh of electricity fed back from Jan. 1, 2026, onwards.
The research also found that further increases to feed-in costs are not expected due to unchanged market conditions.
ACM’s latest update also reminds consumers that once net-metering ends in 2027, the passing-through of feed-in costs will reduce the financial return on solar panels, and therefore advises self-consuming solar power when it is generated.
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