The Dutch Senate will vote against the abolition of the net metering scheme for solar panels, the NOS reports. The ‘salderingsregeling‘ will stay for the time being as the two main groups – farmers party BBB and leftist GroenLinks-PvdA – will vote against the phase-out plan proposed by the outgoing minister for climate and energy, Rob Jetten.
The law states that energy companies must deduct from the electricity bills the amount of electricity that users feed back into the grid. As a result, these households pay for the resulting balance between energy consumed and energy fed to the grid. This way, households with solar panels paid less for their electricity than those without. This results in millions of euros of tax losses for the government.
Why this is important
Whether you bought a new house or want to reduce your electricity bills, you probably considered investing in a solar panel set. In the past few years, Dutch solar panel installations have surged, driven by the benefits offered by the net metering law. The outgoing government thinks it’s time to abolish this rule.
During the debate last week, Minister Jetten explained how the salderingsregeling costs up to €700 million per year. Despite underlining its importance in stimulating solar adoption, he believes that the current cheaper price of solar panels makes the measure “irresponsible.”
GroenLinks-PvdA advocates that the net metering scheme should stay now that more people can buy solar panels. BBB sees the abolition of this law as a way for the cabinet to raise money and that the grid congestion problems should be addressed before phasing out the scheme.
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