Eneco has become the latest Dutch electricity company to introduce fees for solar panel owners who feed power they have produced but not used back into the grid.

The charges will apply to all new customers and to current customers with a variable contract, the company said on Monday. The exact fees per kWh have yet to be calculated and until that is done in the summer, solar panel owners will pay €6 a month in additional fees.

The company said it will charge customers as long as the current mechanism for feeding electricity into the grid continues. Solar panel owners are able to deduct the electricity they produce but don’t use from their regular bills.

The government had wanted to scrap the system and replace it by payments but the senate voted against that plan last month.

Most Dutch energy firms have now introduced some sort of fee for solar panel owners and Essent and Vattenfall have also said they are considering doing so.

Meanwhile, national grid operator Tennet says it needs €160 billion over the next 10 years to improve and upgrade the main network and provide connections for several major wind energy projects.

The state-owned company booked net profit of €1.8 billion last year, a 50% rise on 2022, but says the shortage of grid capacity remains a major problem.