The Dutch Energy Act (Energiewet): What Changed in 2026

The Energy Act (Energiewet) entered into force on 1 January 2026 and replaced the Electricity Act 1998 (Elektriciteitswet 1998) and the Gas Act (Gaswet) with a single statute for the electricity and gas systems. It is mostly a reordering of existing rules around the end user, not a new set of obligations for households or a fast lane for every business that wants more grid capacity.

Four changes matter most in practice. Energy data is now governed by an explicit consent framework: a supplier or service provider may only access consumption data with the customer’s permission, and the customer has a right to their own data. Active customers — households and businesses that generate, store or supply flexibility as well as consume — are given a defined legal position, and energy sharing between customers is provided for. Contracting rules are tightened: suppliers must give clear information about the type of contract, including dynamic pricing, and about the consequences of switching, and the rules on termination charges are anchored in the new framework. And the Authority for Consumers and Markets (Autoriteit Consument & Markt, ACM) is given broader supervisory and enforcement powers.

For businesses the more pressing issue sits alongside the Act rather than inside it. Grid congestion means that a connection or an increase in transport capacity can take years in large parts of the country. The legal instruments that exist — congestion management, flexible transport arrangements and the ACM’s priority framework for allocating capacity — determine what is achievable and when. That is a legal question before it is a technical one.

This article sets out what the Energy Act changed for households and for businesses, which related rules you should not confuse with it, what it means for existing contracts, and the steps worth taking now.

Table of Contents

• What changed on 1 January 2026?
  • Which laws does the Energy Act replace?
  • What rights do energy customers have under the Act?
  • Who controls your energy data?
• What does the Energy Act mean for households?
  • Can you switch supplier, and what does it cost?
  • What happens to solar panels, feed-in and energy sharing?
  • Does the Act impose new obligations on households?
• What does the Energy Act mean for businesses?
  • What can you do about grid congestion?
  • Which energy-saving obligations apply to your business?
  • Which protections apply to small business customers?
• What should you do now?
  • Review your contracts and data permissions
  • Plan for the end of net metering and for grid capacity
  • Escalate a dispute in the right forum

What changed on 1 January 2026?

The Energy Act brought the rules for electricity and gas together in one statute and rebuilt the market rules around the customer. In daily practice the most visible changes are about contracts, data and the position of customers who also produce or store energy.

The Act implements European rules on the internal electricity and gas markets and replaces two laws that had been amended many times since the late 1990s. The legislature aimed for one coherent framework, with clearer roles for suppliers, grid operators and the regulator. For most customers the content of their rights did not change overnight. What changed is where those rights are laid down, and in some areas how far they reach.

Which laws does the Energy Act replace?

The Energy Act replaces the Electricity Act 1998 and the Gas Act. The technical rules that grid operators must follow, the so-called codes, were rewritten at the same time.

The ACM, the regulator for the energy market, adopted new codes for electricity and gas under the Energy Act. According to the ACM, twenty existing codes were replaced by thirteen new ones, and the regulator describes most of these changes as policy-neutral: they align terminology and article numbers with the new Act rather than change the substance. For you this means that a contract, connection agreement or general terms that still refer to the Electricity Act 1998 or the Gas Act are not automatically invalid. They do refer to rules that now sit elsewhere, and it is worth updating those references at the next renewal.

Some rules that used to be in the Electricity Act and Gas Act now sit in lower regulations, such as the Energy Regulation (Energieregeling). The ACM’s rules on termination fees, for example, are now based on the Energy Regulation. When you look up a rule, check which level it sits at: the Act itself, a decree, a ministerial regulation or an ACM code.

What rights do energy customers have under the Act?

Customers keep the familiar protections: reasonable tariffs, clear contract information and the right to switch. The Act adds a clearer position for active customers and a framework for sharing energy.

Suppliers must charge reasonable tariffs for electricity and gas and explain clearly what type of contract you are entering into: fixed, variable or dynamic. With a dynamic contract the price follows the wholesale market, often per hour, so your costs depend directly on when you use electricity. Before you sign, the supplier must make that risk clear. Households and small business customers must also be offered a model contract. The ACM adopted the model contracts on 12 December 2025, so that offers are easier to compare.

An active customer is a customer who does more than consume: for example a household with solar panels and a home battery, or a business that offers flexibility to the grid. The Act gives these customers a defined legal position. That matters for the contracts they can conclude, the data they may share with service providers and the way their feed-in is settled.

If the power fails for longer than four hours, you are entitled to compensation from the grid operator. The ACM lists this right for all customers, including business customers.

Who controls your energy data?

You do. Under the Energy Act, the holder of the data right — the grid user or end customer — decides who may access their energy data, and a party such as a supplier or app provider needs your permission.

The data itself is kept in registers by grid operators and metering parties. Since 1 January 2026 a central data exchange entity designated under the Act, Het Normo, controls access to those registers. If you want a service provider to see your consumption data, for example to advise on a heat pump or battery, the request runs through that entity on the basis of your consent. The entity must take appropriate technical and organisational measures for data protection and security.

The general data protection rules of the GDPR (AVG) continue to apply alongside the Energy Act. For a household, consumption data can reveal when you are at home. For a business, it can reveal production patterns. Check which permissions you have given in the past, and withdraw those you no longer need.

The Energy Act does not give renewable producers general priority grid access, standard connection deadlines or new subsidies for local energy projects. Those claims circulate, but the Act itself contains no such general priority or subsidy scheme. Where priority exists, it follows from the ACM’s prioritisation framework for congested grids, which we discuss below for businesses.

What does the Energy Act mean for households?

For households the Act mainly confirms and organises existing rights: clear contracts, limited termination fees, control over your data and a defined position if you produce energy yourself. It does not introduce new personal obligations or penalties based on how much energy you use.

Can you switch supplier, and what does it cost?

Yes. You can switch supplier with a notice period of at most one month. With a variable or dynamic contract you pay no termination fee. With a fixed-price contract the fee is limited to the loss the supplier actually suffers.

Since 1 June 2023, under ACM rules, the termination fee for a fixed-price contract concluded by a consumer may not exceed the supplier’s loss caused by the early termination. In simple terms: the remaining expected consumption until the end date, multiplied by the difference between your contract tariff and the current tariff for a comparable new contract. If the current tariff is equal to or higher than yours, the supplier suffers no loss and you pay nothing.

The ACM also lists situations in which no fee is due at all. These include termination after the contract has ended, a contract that contains no termination fee clause, and termination by the supplier itself. A fee quote that your supplier gives you remains valid for two months, so you can compare it with a new offer before you decide.

Contracts concluded before 1 June 2023 keep the older termination rules. Check the date of your contract before you calculate what switching will cost.

What happens to solar panels, feed-in and energy sharing?

The net-metering scheme (salderingsregeling) ends on 1 January 2027. From then on you receive a feed-in compensation from your supplier for all electricity you return to the grid, instead of offsetting it against your consumption.

According to the government, until 2030 that compensation must be at least 50% of the bare supply tariff for electricity. Many suppliers also charge feed-in costs (terugleverkosten). These may only cover the actual costs the supplier incurs, and the ACM supervises this. Compare offers on both elements: the compensation you receive and the costs you pay for feeding in.

To feed electricity back into the grid you need a smart or digital meter from 2026, according to the ACM. A smart meter measures consumption and feed-in separately. You also have to report your installation to your supplier and your grid operator.

Energy sharing is new. Since 2026 you can share electricity with another household, for example a family member. According to the ACM, both parties need a smart meter and, under the arrangements now on offer, a contract with the same supplier. The conditions differ per supplier, so read the terms before you agree to share.

Does the Act impose new obligations on households?

No general new obligations. The Energy Act does not impose energy-efficiency standards, carbon-footprint targets or fines on private individuals based on their consumption.

You may read elsewhere that households will face penalties based on their consumption patterns, mandatory insulation upgrades or regional comparisons on their bills. None of this follows from the Energy Act. Where requirements for the energy performance of buildings exist, they come from building and environmental law, not from the Energy Act.

What does matter for households are practical points: your meter must be suitable for feed-in, you must report a solar installation, and from 2027 your income from solar panels depends on the feed-in terms in your contract. If you rent your home, the rules on energy performance and rent sit in tenancy law, which we discuss in other articles.

What does the Energy Act mean for businesses?

For businesses the Act changes less than the debate suggests. The real constraints are grid capacity and the energy-saving rules under environmental law, and both need attention alongside the Act.

What can you do about grid congestion?

Your options depend on three instruments: the ACM’s prioritisation framework, congestion management and flexible use of the grid. A refusal or delay by the grid operator can be challenged before the ACM.

Grid operators used to allocate scarce capacity strictly in order of request: first come, first served. In April 2024 the ACM concluded that this did not always work well and introduced a prioritisation framework from 1 October 2024. On 12 December 2025 the ACM adopted a new framework so that grid operators can continue to give priority after 1 January 2026, when the Energy Act took effect.

The framework knows three priority categories:

• Congestion relievers: projects that directly free up space on the grid, so that others can connect.
• Safety: activities essential for security, such as hospitals, emergency services, defence and police.
• Basic needs: projects for housing, education and public transport, among others.

An ordinary commercial project, such as a factory extension or a fleet of electric vans, usually falls outside these categories. Being a renewable producer does not in itself give priority. For most businesses the relevant question is therefore not whether they qualify for priority, but how they can use the grid more flexibly.

Congestion management means that the grid operator can oblige large users to offer flexibility in exchange for compensation. Since 1 October 2024 participation is mandatory for large companies in congested areas. The ACM also introduced time-differentiated tariffs: large consumers can receive compensation of up to 50% of their network costs if they use the grid less at peak times. Group contracts for transport capacity, for example for a business park, are being developed.

If the grid operator refuses a connection or capacity, or does not respond within a reasonable time, you can submit a dispute to the ACM. The ACM has a dispute resolution procedure for disputes with grid operators and has issued decisions on the duty to connect. Before you start, collect the correspondence, the request you submitted and the reasons the grid operator gave.

Which energy-saving obligations apply to your business?

The energy-saving obligation does not come from the Energy Act but from environmental law under the Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet). It applies to business locations that use 50,000 kWh of electricity or 25,000 m³ of natural gas (or an equivalent) or more per year.

A location above these thresholds must take all energy-saving measures with a payback period of five years or less. You can comply in two ways: take all qualifying measures you identify yourself, or take all applicable measures from the Recognised Energy Saving Measures List (Erkende Maatregelenlijst, EML) for your sector. The rules are in the Environmental Activities Decree (Besluit activiteiten leefomgeving) and the Buildings Decree (Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving).

Two related duties apply. The notification obligation requires you to report the measures taken to the competent authority every four years; according to the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) the most recent deadline was 1 December 2023. The investigation obligation applies to larger locations, using at least 10,000,000 kWh of electricity or 170,000 m³ of natural gas per year, and also runs in four-year cycles.

The Energy Act does not make energy audits mandatory for all businesses, and it does not attach fines to energy use as such. The obligations described here depend on your consumption and come from environmental law. Supervision lies with the competent authority (bevoegd gezag) under environmental law, not with the ACM.

Which protections apply to small business customers?

Small business customers enjoy some of the same protections as consumers. Micro-enterprises, with fewer than 10 employees and less than €2 million in turnover or balance sheet total, have extra protection.

All business customers are entitled to reasonable tariffs, a free smart meter installed by the grid operator and compensation for outages longer than four hours. Business customers with a small connection can choose between fixed, variable and dynamic contracts, and must be offered a model contract. A supplier may not simply terminate the contract because of an unpaid bill.

For micro-enterprises the ACM goes further. They can annul a contract if they were misled, and they pay a termination fee only under specific conditions. If you run a small business and signed an energy contract after an aggressive sales call, check whether these rules apply to you.

Disputes with a supplier go first to the supplier itself. If that does not lead to a solution, consumers can turn to the Energy Disputes Committee (Geschillencommissie Energie) and business customers to the Business Energy Disputes Committee (Geschillencommissie Energie Zakelijk). Larger companies with individually negotiated contracts usually fall outside these protections: their position depends on the contract and on general contract law.

What should you do now?

Start with what you can control: your contracts, your data permissions and your planning for grid capacity. Then decide whether a dispute with a supplier or grid operator is worth pursuing.

Review your contracts and data permissions

Check the type of contract, the end date, the termination fee clause and the feed-in terms. Then check which parties have access to your energy data.

For households this means: is your contract fixed, variable or dynamic, and when was it concluded? What will the feed-in compensation and the feed-in costs be from 2027? For businesses the list is longer: references to the Electricity Act 1998 or the Gas Act in connection and supply agreements, price review clauses, take-or-pay obligations and the allocation of grid costs. Contracts that run for several years deserve a review before the next price adjustment.

For data, list the apps, energy advisers and other service providers you gave access to your consumption data. Withdraw permissions you no longer use. Businesses that share data with a service provider should also agree in writing what the provider may do with that data.

Plan for the end of net metering and for grid capacity

If you have solar panels, calculate what they will yield after 1 January 2027 on the basis of your feed-in compensation. If you need more grid capacity, submit your request early and explore flexible options at the same time.

For a household, consuming more of your own solar power during the day will become more attractive, for example by running appliances at midday. A home battery can help, but compare its costs with the feed-in terms in your contract before you invest.

For a business, the order matters. Submit a transport request on time and document it well. Ask the grid operator in writing whether your project falls within a priority category and which flexible options are available. Consider whether you can accept limits at peak times in return for lower costs or earlier access. For new locations, check grid capacity before you sign a lease or purchase agreement, and consider making the transaction conditional on a connection.

Escalate a dispute in the right forum

Which forum is right depends on the counterparty. Disputes with a supplier go to the supplier and then to a disputes committee. Disputes with a grid operator about connection or transport go to the ACM.

Before you escalate, set out the facts in writing: what you asked for, when, what the answer was and on which rule the other party relies. A dispute with a grid operator often turns on technical questions, such as whether capacity is really unavailable and whether the priority framework was applied correctly. A dispute with a supplier usually turns on the contract: the tariff, the termination fee or the information you received before you signed.

Keep in mind that a dispute does not create grid capacity. Even a successful complaint may only lead to a new decision or a better place in the queue. For businesses it is often wise to pursue a dispute and flexible alternatives at the same time, so that the project does not stand still while the procedure runs.

In summary

• The Energy Act entered into force on 1 January 2026 and replaced the Electricity Act 1998 and the Gas Act; most changes in the technical codes are policy-neutral.
• You control your energy data: suppliers and service providers need your permission, and access runs through a central data exchange entity.
• Termination fees for fixed-price contracts are limited to the supplier’s actual loss; variable and dynamic contracts carry no fee.
• Net metering ends on 1 January 2027; until 2030 the feed-in compensation must be at least 50% of the bare supply tariff.
• For businesses the key issues are grid congestion (ACM priority framework, congestion management) and the energy-saving obligation under environmental law, which applies from 50,000 kWh or 25,000 m³ per year.

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