# Solar feed-in costs in the Netherlands: what you pay > Dutch suppliers charge terugleverkosten for solar feed-in. What they are, how they differ from your feed-in payment, and what changes in 2027. If you have solar panels on a Dutch roof, the electricity you do not use yourself flows back into the grid. For years that was a simple arrangement: what you fed in was subtracted from what you took out, and the supplier’s kWh price was the only number that really mattered when you switched. That is no longer the case. Many suppliers now charge *terugleverkosten* – feed-in costs, a separate charge for handling the electricity you export – and those charges vary considerably from one supplier to the next. The result is that two households at the same address, with the same consumption, can end up with very different annual bills depending on how much solar electricity they feed in and which supplier they signed with. And from 1 January 2027, when the *salderingsregeling* (the net-metering scheme) ends, the calculation changes again. This page explains what these charges are, how they differ from what you are paid for your exported electricity, and how to compare two offers without fooling yourself. ## What feed-in costs are, and why they exist *Terugleverkosten* are a charge a supplier applies to customers who feed electricity into the grid. The reasoning suppliers give is that exported household solar creates costs on their side: the electricity arrives when the sun shines, which is generally not when it is worth most on the wholesale market, and the supplier has to buy and sell to balance its position. Under Dutch rules, a supplier may only pass on costs it actually incurs to process electricity fed into the grid. The *Autoriteit Consument & Markt* (ACM, the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets) supervises this. In practice, the charge is structured differently by different suppliers. Some apply a fixed monthly amount, some tier it, and the amount is frequently linked to the volume you feed in – the more you export, the more you pay. Two things follow from that. First, there is no single “feed-in cost in the Netherlands”; there is a charge per supplier, per contract. Second, the charge that suits a household with a modest roof and high daytime consumption is not the one that suits a household exporting most of what it generates. ## Feed-in costs are not the same as your feed-in payment This is the distinction that trips people up most often, partly because the Dutch words look alike. - *Terugleverkosten* – feed-in costs. What **you pay** the supplier for exporting. - *Terugleververgoeding* – feed-in payment. What the **supplier pays you** per exported kWh that is not netted off. Under net metering, the *terugleververgoeding* only comes into play for the surplus beyond what can be offset. From 2027 it becomes the central number, because there will be nothing left to offset. A contract can be generous on one of these and expensive on the other, so reading only one of them tells you very little. ## Why the lowest kWh price can mislead you An energy comparison built around the *kale leveringstarief* (the bare supply rate per kWh, before taxes and network charges) answers one question: what does electricity taken from the grid cost? For a household without panels, that plus the standing charge is close to the whole story. For a household with panels it is not. Your bill is made up of what you draw from the grid, what you are paid for what you export, the fixed supply charge, feed-in costs, and *netbeheerkosten* – network charges, which run through your supplier’s invoice but are set by your regional grid operator. Those network charges are identical for a given address no matter which supplier you choose, so they cannot distinguish one offer from another; feed-in costs very much can. A tariff that wins on the headline kWh price can lose on the total once its feed-in charge is applied to a household exporting a substantial volume. Our page on [how a Dutch energy invoice is put together](https://www.energievergelijker.nl/en/dutch-energy-bill-explained) sets out where each of these lines appears on your *jaarafrekening* (annual statement). ## What changes on 1 January 2027 Net metering continues unchanged up to and including 31 December 2026. From 1 January 2027 it ends. From that date, suppliers must pay a *terugleververgoeding* of at least 50% of the bare supply rate, and that statutory minimum applies until 2030. It is a floor, not a fixed price: suppliers may pay more, and what they pay alongside what they charge is exactly what a comparison needs to capture. The official description of the scheme and its end date is published by the Dutch government at [rijksoverheid.nl](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/themas/klimaat-milieu-en-natuur/energie-thuis/salderingsregeling), and we go through the mechanics and the timetable in more detail in our piece on [the end of net metering](https://www.energievergelijker.nl/en/net-metering-ends-2027). The practical consequence for contract choice is that self-consumption gains weight. Electricity you use at the moment you generate it is worth the full retail price you avoid paying; electricity you export is worth whatever your supplier pays for it, minus whatever it charges you to export. ## How to compare two offers fairly The only way to compare is to run both offers against the same household figures. Use one set of numbers for generation, self-consumption and export, and apply it to every contract you look at. Changing the assumptions between offers produces a result that says more about the assumptions than about the contracts. A like-for-like calculation has this shape: 1. **G** – annual generation in kWh 2. **S** – the share of G you consume directly, in kWh 3. **E** – annual export, G − S 4. **C** – annual consumption drawn from the grid, in kWh 5. Cost of drawn electricity: **C** × supply rate, per offer 6. Fixed supply charge, per offer 7. Feed-in costs, per offer, applied to **E** where the charge is volume-linked 8. Feed-in payment received: **E** × feed-in rate, per offer – from 2027, at least 50% of the bare supply rate 9. Network charges – identical for both offers at your address Run steps 5 to 8 twice, once per offer, and compare the totals. You can do the same across live tariffs [in our comparison tool](https://www.energievergelijker.nl/en/compare-energy-providers-netherlands). ## What you need before you can compare Three figures do most of the work: annual generation, self-consumption and annual export. Generation comes from your inverter app or the panel installer’s estimate. Export and grid consumption are on your last *jaarafrekening*, which reports both directions separately. If you have a *slimme meter* (smart meter), your consumption data is available at finer granularity through your supplier’s portal, which helps if your daytime usage pattern has changed – a heat pump or an electric car shifts self-consumption significantly. ## If you rent Rented homes with panels are a common case and an awkward one. The panels usually belong to the landlord, but the export runs over the tenant’s *aansluiting* (grid connection), and the energy contract on that connection is the tenant’s. That means the feed-in costs land on the tenant’s bill, even where the tenant did not choose the panels and does not own them. Whether the rent, service charges or a separate agreement compensates for that is a matter between tenant and landlord. For the purpose of choosing a supplier, though, treat the household as a solar household: the export volume is real and the charge attaches to your contract. ## Feed-in costs by supplier What each supplier charges for processing the electricity you export, and what it pays you per exported kilowatt hour. The table updates automatically. ## Frequently asked questions Are feed-in costs the same at every supplier? No. They differ per supplier and per contract, both in amount and in structure, and they are often linked to how much electricity you feed in. This is one of the few remaining lines on an energy bill where the choice of supplier makes a material difference for solar households. Can a supplier charge whatever it likes for feed-in? No. Suppliers may only pass on costs they actually incur to process electricity fed into the grid, and the ACM supervises compliance. Does net metering still apply in 2026? Yes. The *salderingsregeling* remains unchanged up to and including 31 December 2026 and ends on 1 January 2027. What will I be paid for exported electricity after 2027? At least 50% of the bare supply rate – a statutory minimum that applies until 2030. Suppliers may pay more than the minimum, so the feed-in payment is part of what you compare, not a fixed given.