A lot has changed since the summer for households with rooftop solar panels. Two of the big three energy suppliers (Eneco and Essent) and a number of smaller companies can no longer conclude contracts for more than one year. Feed-in tariffs have been significantly reduced at other energy companies.

In September, Eneco expected three-year contracts would again be offered to solar panel owners a few weeks later, but that is not yet the case. It may also take some time. Essent has also not yet offered a three-year contract with solar panels.

Solar panels are a headache

Suppliers are concerned about solar panel owners, because they incur more and more costs for these customers. Costs that are now spread across all customers, so that people without solar panels contribute to the benefits to customers who use solar panels.

In fact, it is a luxury problem that arises because there are more and more panels on Dutch roofs. On sunny days, more electricity is regularly generated than is required. This causes electricity prices to fall sharply (due to high supply) and sometimes even negatively.

It sounds good, but it has a downside. On the one hand, there is the netting arrangement. This ensures that people using solar panels can offset the electricity they supplied to the grid against their consumption at the end of the year. So let’s say you supply 1,000 kWh to the grid in a year, and consume 1,000 kWh in a year that you don’t generate yourself, your bill would be €0.

Costs are divided among all clients

Apparently it is not more than fair, but the problem is that you often supply energy to the grid when prices are very low (because the sun is shining and everyone is supplying energy at that time) and consume energy when prices are high, when the sun is not shining. It appears. With a netting system, you pay for expensive electricity with cheap electricity.

In effect, the energy supplier makes a profit and these costs are shared among all customers. Not really fair.

Then there are feed-in tariffs, for people who generate more than they consume on an annual basis. You will then receive compensation for every kilowatt-hour you supply over what you consume. But the same applies: you supply it again when electricity is cheap (or even when the price is negative), but you get compensation for it that is often higher than the market price at that time.

Vandebrun precursor

In August, Vandebron decided to put an end to that by charging customers for the costs of delivering returns. Depending on how much you return to the network annually, you must pay a fixed fee. This is to ensure that other customers do not pass on additional costs incurred by the supplier on your behalf.

Eneco and Essent have not taken this step yet, but are looking into how to address this issue. As a temporary solution, it was decided not to offer long-term contracts, so that suppliers would not be tied to the owners of relatively expensive solar panels for years.

Confusing

An Essent spokesperson said: “To keep costs as low as possible for all our customers, new customers with solar panels cannot currently enter into a three-year contract. For the time being, this temporary measure will remain in place.”

An Eneco spokesperson says they understand why Vandebron took this step, but the company itself is still trying to figure out how it wants to deal with the problem. This was previously expected to be possible in 2023, but that did not work out.

Waiting for politics

Although this is ultimately a decision made by Eneco itself, the company says it is considering political developments. Therefore, it is questionable what the new government to be formed wants in this area, and next February the Senate will vote to abolish the compensation system. “This is important,” Eneko says. Essent also states that it will “of course monitor developments in the market.”

If this netting arrangement were indeed abolished, at least part of the problem would be solved.

Pay down

At Vattenfall, customers with solar panels can still sign up for a multi-year contract, but that company also notes that it’s looking for ways to split the costs “as equitably as possible.”

This does not mean that solar panel owners in Vattenfall are not aware of the debate surrounding solar panels. Because, just like all other companies, Vattenfall has also reduced the return fees significantly.

On February 6, the Senate will discuss phasing out the netting system.