Net metering ends in 2027: what does it mean for your installation business?

On 1 January 2027 the net metering scheme ends. Customers with solar panels can then no longer offset the power they feed back against the power they use. They receive a feed-in compensation from their supplier, which until 2030 is at least half of their agreed electricity price. For an electrician, the work shifts as a result: fewer panels that sell themselves, more charging points that charge smartly, control in the meter cupboard and questions about home batteries.

In this article

1. What exactly changes on 1 January 2027?
2. Which jobs become more important when net metering ends?
3. What do you honestly tell a customer who wants a home battery?
4. What do grid congestion and the waiting list mean for your planning?
5. What does this mean for your turnover and planning?
6. What else changes after 2027?

What exactly changes on 1 January 2027?

From 1 January 2027, customers may no longer offset the power their solar panels feed back against the power they take from the grid. That offsetting is called net metering. The act that ends it comes into force on that date (Bulletin of Acts 2025, 17).

For power fed back into the grid, the energy supplier pays a feed-in compensation. Under the act, until 1 January 2030 that compensation may not be lower than 50% of the price the customer has agreed with their supplier for delivered power (Bulletin of Acts 2025, 17). The central government explains this as half of the bare supply rate, meaning the electricity rate without taxes (Government of the Netherlands).

Suppliers may also charge feed-in costs. These may only be costs they actually incur to process the power fed back, and the ACM supervises this (Government of the Netherlands). On power the customer generates and uses directly, they pay no tax and no supplier costs. That is why after 2027 everything revolves around own consumption.

Which jobs become more important when net metering ends?

Jobs that help customers use self-generated power directly. Think of a charging point that charges smartly, control of large consumers and a meter cupboard that is ready for it. Solar panels remain work, but they sell themselves less easily.

A household uses on average about 30 percent of the power from its own solar panels itself. The rest goes onto the grid, because panels generate a lot during the day while people mainly use a lot in the evening (Milieu Centraal). After 2027, every kilowatt hour the customer uses themselves is worth more to them than a kilowatt hour they feed back.

Smart charging is the simplest step here. With smart charging, the charging point controls the time and speed of charging, for example towards moments with plenty of own solar power. Milieu Centraal recommends this for everyone with an electric car and their own charging point (Milieu Centraal). Since 1 January 2026, a charging point with a built-in kWh meter (MID meter) can also earn the customer money, through certificates for the power charged (Government of the Netherlands).

How many fewer solar panels will be sold is hard to say exactly. Researchers at ECN, now part of TNO, modelled alternatives to net metering in 2020. Under those alternatives, the growth of solar panels at households up to 2030 was estimated to be 15 to 20% lower than if net metering continued (Londo et al., 2020). That was a model calculation for other schemes than the one now coming. It does give an order of magnitude: less growth, not a standstill.

What do you honestly tell a customer who wants a home battery?

That a home battery mainly costs money and will most likely not pay for itself. That is what Milieu Centraal, the Dutch information centre on energy and the environment, says. An average 6 kWh battery costs a few thousand euros including inverter and installation, and there is no central government subsidy (Milieu Centraal).

Research with real meter data confirms that picture. Dam and Van der Laan worked with smart meter data from 225 Dutch households with solar panels. A 5 kWh battery, controlled on the hourly prices of a dynamic contract, yielded between €93 and €300 a year at 2023 prices without net metering, depending on the household. With net metering, the maximum was €190 a year. According to the researchers, such a battery is not generally profitable in any of those situations (Dam & Van der Laan, 2024).

VAT does not make the battery cheaper either. Supply and installation of a home battery are subject to 21% VAT, even if you supply it together with solar panels (Tax Administration). A zero rate is not coming. In autumn 2026 the government wrote that home batteries are not on the European list for which a zero rate is allowed, and that a general zero rate could also stimulate electricity trading (government, 2026).

What you promise becomes part of the agreement. In a case before the district court judge in Breda, a customer had bought a home battery with installation for €14,145. He expected the battery to be able to trade on the electricity market, and the installer had presented it that way in messages. At delivery the battery could not do that and did not even charge. The court dissolved the sale. The installer had to repay the full amount and remove the battery (District Court of Zeeland-West-Brabant, 2025).

So write in your quote what the battery does, not what it yields. State the storage in kWh, the power in kW, the control and the functions that work at delivery. What the customer saves depends on their contract, their consumption and the rules after 2027. That is not something you can promise.

What do grid congestion and the waiting list mean for your planning?

That a job needing a heavier connection can stand still for a long time. Since 1 July 2026, all new requests for a new or heavier connection in a congestion area go onto one waiting list, including those from households. The waiting time differs per region and can run to several years (Netbeheer Nederland, 2026).

Grid congestion means that the electricity grid is full at a given location. The grid operator then uses the ACM priority rules to decide who goes first. Homes up to and including 3 x 35 A fall into category 3, but according to Netbeheer Nederland that priority is no guarantee of immediate capacity (Netbeheer Nederland, 2026). The central government itself gives the example that a hospital gets a connection sooner than someone who wants to install a charging point (Government of the Netherlands).

How long it takes in practice is shown by grid operator figures that the trade magazine Solar Magazine listed in October 2026. A change to an existing small connection without digging took an average of 48 weeks inside a congestion area in the first half of 2026. Outside it, that was 8 weeks (Solar Magazine, 2026). These are averages, not a fixed term per request.

The central government advises customers to first have an installer check whether a heavier connection is really needed (Government of the Netherlands). That is where your role lies. Measure the consumption, calculate the peak and see whether a charging point with adjustable charging current or smart control solves the problem. Then the customer does not have to join the waiting list and your job does not have to wait.

What does this mean for your turnover and planning?

Your turnover depends less on one product and more on advice, control and extensions in the meter cupboard. If you mainly install solar panels, you depend on a market that runs less smoothly after 2027. If you also do charging points, consumer units and control, you can follow demand. A few practical points:

1. Split work that waits for the grid operator

   Invoice what you have already supplied and installed. The part that can only be done after the upgrade, you invoice later. That way your money is not tied up for months.

2. Do not promise a date you do not control

   State in the quote that the planning of the connection lies with the grid operator. Then the customer knows where they stand.

3. Register a home battery

   Registering with the grid operator via energieleveren.nl is mandatory for storage from 0.8 kW (Netbeheer Nederland, 2022). According to Enexis, an estimated less than 40% of batteries had been registered in March 2026 (Enexis, 2026). Do it at handover or go through it together with the customer.

4. Get the VAT right per component

   Solar panels on or near a home, with the inverter and the meter cupboard adjustment needed for them, are subject to 0%. A home battery and a complete new consumer unit are subject to 21% (Tax Administration). A charging point is also subject to 21%, the standard rate for work on homes (Tax Administration).

What else changes after 2027?

Two moments matter. On 1 January 2030 the statutory floor of 50% for the feed-in compensation lapses (Bulletin of Acts 2025, 17). And the government is working on time-dependent network tariffs from 2029 (government, 2026). These are network tariffs that depend on the moment a customer uses the grid.

Grid operator Enexis described it like this: using the grid becomes cheaper during off-peak hours in the daytime and more expensive at peak moments in the evening. In March 2026 Enexis still expected introduction in 2028 (Enexis, 2026). So the exact date has not been fixed yet.

Such tariffs reward control: a charging point or battery that charges outside the peak then lowers the bill. In Flevoland, Gelderland and Utrecht, households are already gaining experience with compensation for flexible electricity use, partly through home batteries (government, 2026). For the electrician this means: the customer after 2027 gains less from a stand-alone device and more from someone who explains what happens in their meter cupboard, and says honestly what is still uncertain.

Sources

• Act of 18 December 2024 amending several acts to implement the ending of the net metering scheme for electricity, Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2025, 17, published 29 January 2025. officielebekendmakingen.nl
• Government of the Netherlands, Net metering scheme ends in 2027, accessed 24 October 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
• Milieu Centraal, Home battery: storing solar energy, last updated 28 September 2026. milieucentraal.nl
• Government of the Netherlands, Can I earn money with my own charging point?, accessed 24 October 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
• Londo, M., Matton, R., Usmani, O., van Klaveren, M., Tigchelaar, C. & Brunsting, S. (2020). Alternatives for current net metering policy for solar PV in the Netherlands: A comparison of impacts on business case and purchasing behaviour of private homeowners, and on governmental costs. Renewable Energy, 147, 903-915. doi.org
• Dam, M.R. & van der Laan, M.D. (2024). Techno-Economic Assessment of Battery Systems for PV-Equipped Households with Dynamic Contracts: A Case Study of The Netherlands. Energies, 17(12), 2991. doi.org
• Tax Administration, VAT rate for solar panels, accessed 24 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Government, Annex: implementation of House of Representatives motions on tackling grid congestion, with parliamentary paper 29 023, autumn 2026. officielebekendmakingen.nl
• District Court of Zeeland-West-Brabant, 17 December 2025, ECLI:NL:RBZWB:2025:9522. uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
• Netbeheer Nederland, How it works: ending capacity reservation for small consumers, 5 June 2026. netbeheernederland.nl
• Government of the Netherlands, Can I still get a new or heavier electricity connection from 1 July 2026?, accessed 24 October 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
• Solar & Storage Magazine, Home in congestion area must allow for 48 weeks waiting time for change to grid connection, 7 October 2026 (trade magazine, based on grid operator figures). solarmagazine.nl
• Netbeheer Nederland, New electricity storage unit? Register it!, 6 July 2022. netbeheernederland.nl
• Enexis, news item on home batteries, March 2026. enexis.nl
• Tax Administration, Work on homes, accessed 24 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl