ACM’s monitor on the consumer energy market: supply tariffs and grid tariffs go up, taxes go down slightly

The recent price increases on the wholesale markets for electricity and natural gas affect the rates that customers need to pay now. This has been one of the conclusions of the Monitor on the consumer energy market of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). Advertised rates of variable contracts are approximately 0.5 percent higher than a month ago. For households that have signed new fixed contracts this month, prices have gone up approximately 1 to 3 percent compared with last month.

In addition to this increase in the supply tariffs, the other costs that households need to pay for natural gas and electricity will change as of 1 January 2025. The system tariffs (which are the costs that households, through their energy suppliers, need to pay to the system operators for the transmission of electricity and natural gas) go up 11 percent in 2025. For an average household is this an increase of approximately 60 euros per year. The taxes that households have to pay for consuming electricity and natural gas go down slightly in 2025. The tax on electricity goes down approximately 1 eurocent per kWh, and the tax on natural gas approximately 1 eurocent per m3. The reduction of the energy tax goes up 3.75 euros. This means that, in 2025, an average household pays approximately 47 euros less in taxes per year.

Monitor on system-operator quality

This month, ACM has also published an update to the annual Monitor on system-operator quality. It has revealed that grid quality and reliability have remained high. Electricity and natural gas can be supplied, on average, over 99.999 percent of the time. The monitor also showed that grid updates are essential to maintaining the reliability of the grids at this high level, also during the energy transition. Businesses and households are increasingly switching from fossil fuels to electricity (sustainably generated or otherwise), and households more and more often have solar panels, electric cars, or heat pumps. As a result, the grid is burdened more, thereby increasing the risk of power disruptions. Power disruptions resulting from grid congestion are still rare, yet a steady increase can be seen in the Monitor.