Dutch households with solar panels have spent fifteen years under one of the most generous export arrangements in Europe. Every kilowatt-hour sent to the grid was subtracted from every kilowatt-hour drawn from it, across the whole year, and the difference was what you paid for. Export was worth exactly as much as import, including the energy tax and VAT loaded onto the retail price.
That ends on 1 January 2027.
The law has already passed
This is not a proposal. The Wet beëindiging salderingsregeling was approved by the Tweede Kamer on 14 November 2024 and by the Eerste Kamer on 17 December 2024. The text sets its own commencement: the law takes effect on 1 January 2027.
An earlier bill, which would have phased the scheme down gradually between 2025 and 2031, was rejected by the Eerste Kamer in February 2024. The version that passed does not taper. Net metering runs at 100% through 31 December 2026 and is gone the next morning.
There is no grandfathering, and this is the part people get wrong
A great deal of Dutch solar marketing in 2026 implies that installing before the deadline preserves something. It does not. The abolition applies to all small-scale consumers, regardless of when the panels went up. A system commissioned in 2014 and a system commissioned on 20 December 2026 both stop netting on 1 January 2027.
Your supplier also cannot extend the date. The scheme is statutory, and it ends on the date the statute names.
What replaces it
From 1 January 2027, electricity you export is bought by your supplier at a redelijke vergoeding, a reasonable compensation. The level is not set by government. Each supplier sets its own, and the ACM supervises whether what they set is reasonable.
One number is fixed in law. Between 1 January 2027 and 1 January 2030, within a combined supply and feed-in agreement, that compensation must be at least 50% of the price agreed for supplied electricity, excluding VAT and energy tax.
| Period | Basis of payment | Statutory floor |
|---|---|---|
| To 31 December 2026 | Netted against import over the year, so worth the full retail price including energy tax and VAT | Full offset, up to your annual consumption |
| 1 Jan 2027 to 1 Jan 2030 | Supplier-set payment per exported kWh | At least 50% of the agreed supply price, excluding VAT and energy tax |
| From 1 January 2030 | Supplier-set payment per exported kWh | None. Free pricing, with the ACM supervising |
The exclusion of VAT and energy tax in the 2027 floor matters more than the 50% does. Net metering returned the tax-inclusive retail price; the floor is half of a price measured before those are added.
Rijksoverheid, Salderingsregeling stopt in 2027. Checked 2026.
Read the middle row carefully. The floor is 50% of the bare supply price, before energy tax and VAT are added. Net metering was worth the full price with those included. The drop is considerably steeper than half.
Feed-in costs are already being charged
Separately from all of this, Dutch suppliers have been levying terugleverkosten, charges for the act of exporting, on households with panels. These sit outside the netting arrangement and they exist now, before the abolition. The ACM has investigated whether they are cost-reflective.
A household modelling its 2027 position on the export payment alone, without checking what its supplier charges for feed-in, will be out by whatever that charge is. The charges are contract-specific and they vary, so the number has to come from your own contract.
What actually changes the arithmetic
Once export is worth roughly half of import at best, the value of a kilowatt-hour depends on whether you use it or send it. Under net metering the two were identical, so self-consumption was worth nothing to optimise. After 2027 it becomes the main lever a Dutch household has, which is the position UK households have been in since 2020 and the reason the same question, is a battery worth it, is asked so differently in the two countries.
That does not automatically make a battery worth buying. It makes the gap between import price and export payment the thing to measure, and whether that gap covers the cost of storage is a question about your consumption pattern rather than about the regulation. The cases where the answer is no are set out in when a home battery is not worth buying.
What this site does not model
Our calculator is built for the Great Britain market and the Smart Export Guarantee. It does not model Dutch tariffs, energy tax, or the post-2027 compensation, and pointing it at a Dutch household would produce a confident number computed under the wrong rules. When the Dutch engine exists we will say so here.
Wet beëindiging salderingsregeling (36.611): passed Tweede Kamer 14 November 2024, Eerste Kamer 17 December 2024, in force 1 January 2027. The 50% floor for 2027 to 2030 is stated by Rijksoverheid. Checked 2026. Source