Eneco to slash price for solar panel buyback

Energy supplier Eneco is to slash the price it pays customers who supply energy back to the grid via solar panels.

According to reporting by the AD, the company will reduce its fee to 9 cents per kWh as of September 5th. The company says this is the market rate.

Current rates vary from 5 to 56 cents per kWh. Eneco had been paying a special fee to entice consumers to install solar panels, but says this is no longer needed because so many Dutch households have them.

Some 1.8 million households have rooftop solar panels and around 25% of those generate more electricity than the customer uses in a year.

Angry customers have taken to Twitter to complain, with many upset that this will cut further into household budgets, as gas prices have spiked.

Lekker dan. Mailje van #Eneco: Voor elke met onze zonnepanelen opgewekte en teruggeleverde kWh kreeg ik (hoog tarief) € 0,3595 en (laagtarief) € 0,30784 terug. Dat wordt over enkele dagen slechts €0,09 per opgewekte kWh.
Wat je ook doet, je moet bloeden, hé! #energiearmoede

— Bart Olmer (@BartOlmer) August 23, 2022

The government is working on a plan to set a minimum price for solar energy buyback, but that isn’t expected to be in place for years. Consumer groups want the government to speed up the process.

‘We call on the minister to indicate exactly what the lower limit will be as soon as possible,’ Sandra Molenaar, director of the Consumers’ Association, told the AD.