ACM: in 2027, Dutch households pay, on average, 89 euros more for electricity transport, and 52 euros more for natural-gas transport

Dutch households and businesses with connections to the regional electricity and natural-gas networks (distribution networks) are expected to pay, on average, 20 percent more next year for the transport of electricity and natural gas. For an average household, this represents an increase of approximately 89 euros per year for electricity and 52 euros for natural gas. Large businesses that are directly connected to Dutch TSO TenneT’s high-voltage grid are expected to pay, on average, approximately 20 percent more. These are some of the conclusions by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) on the basis of the first projections of the 2027 tariffs.

Manon Leijten, Member of the Board of ACM, adds: “The increase in the tariffs that households and businesses must pay are largely determined by policy choices regarding the current and future energy system. The choice for more offshore wind farms offers, for example, major benefits for the energy transition, and leads to the Netherlands becoming less dependent on fossil fuels from other countries. However, offshore wind farms require deeper offshore and onshore power cables, which also need to be safe. Those require major investments from system operators, which are paid for by households and businesses via the transport tariffs.”

Investments are needed for dealing with grid congestion problems

In many regions, the grid is congested. As a result, more and more businesses, homes, schools, and emergency services such as police stations and GP clinics need to wait for new or upgraded grid connections. The problem of grid congestion costs Dutch society an estimated 10 to 40 billion euros per year as businesses are unable to expand (or even to establish themselves), and housing projects cannot take place. In order to create sufficient connections for housing districts and businesses as quickly as possible, system operators need to invest approximately 235 billion euros in the grid over the next 15 years. That money is used, for example by TenneT (the Dutch TSO for electricity), to create high-voltage stations and new offshore and onshore cables for feeding electricity generated by wind farms into the grid. The distribution system operators (DSOs), too, need to make major investments, for example in additional compact (transformer) substations and upgraded cables. In addition, system operators must maintain the natural-gas networks, and, where necessary, modernize them, for example because of safety issues. Since households and businesses consume less and less natural gas, these costs need to be spread over an ever-shrinking group of system users.

All costs that system operators incur must be paid for via the transport tariffs by the households and businesses that use those systems. Transport tariffs make up approximately 30 percent of the energy bill of an average household. Each year, ACM sets the transport tariffs of system operators, and, in that context, ensures that, via those tariffs, system operators are compensated the efficient costs that they incur. As a result, the system operators have sufficient revenues to make the necessary investments, while, at the same time, ACM sees to it that households and businesses do not have to pay more than necessary.

New methodology offers more scope for necessary investments

In early 2026, ACM, together with system operators and representative organizations of network users set a new methodology for determining the system operators’ revenues. The 2027 transport tariffs are the first tariffs that are set on the basis of this new methodology. At the heart of this new methodology is that it offers system operators flexibility to better respond to uncertainties regarding the cost trends of the electricity and natural-gas networks, and that the costs of system operators are compensated sooner. That makes it easier for system operators to finance their investments, and, in that way, to realize sufficient connections for residential districts and businesses faster. At the same time, ACM conducts stricter oversight over the investments and costs of system operators. ACM does so by assessing the system operators’ investments plans in advance, and by conducting comprehensive oversight over the business operations of system operators through on-site inspections, audits, process assessments, and monitoring activities. In addition, ACM encourages the sharing of ‘best practices’ among system operators. In that way, system operators are able to learn from each other in order to expand and maintain their systems as efficiently as possible.

More-stable system tariffs

At the start of any new regulatory period, the costs that system operators will incur during that period are estimated using information from those system operators. These estimates are called the revenue decisions. On the basis of these estimates and the projected volumes and number of connections on the electricity and natural-gas networks, ACM sets the transport tariffs for households and businesses. If it turns out afterwards that the actual costs were lower than estimated, the difference will be returned to the network users through the tariffs. If it turns out that system operators incurred more costs, the tariffs for network users will go up. Each year, system operators make a new estimate of their expected costs, so that the difference between the estimate and the actual costs is as little as possible. That will result in a more stable trend of the network tariffs.