The lack of capacity on the Dutch electricity grid is threatening the construction of thousands of homes, developers, housing corporations and local authority representatives have told MPs at round table talks.

“Network congestion is the biggest enemy of residential construction in the Netherlands at this moment,” said Fahid Minhas, director of developers lobby group Neprom. “The situation should be seen as a crisis that demands immediate and powerful intervention.”

In Utrecht, Gelderland and Flevoland, some 200,000 new homes could be under threat because of an impending freeze on new connections, Neprom says.

New rules to divide up scarce capacity will mean housing will have to compete with industry and other projects.

The consumer and markets authority, ACM, has drawn up a priority list for a new electricity connection which is topped by companies that are working on expanding grid capacity, followed by institutions which have a public safety role.

Only then comes housing, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Friday.

But developers and local governments in some areas are concerned there is so little capacity left that residential developments will be put on ice until that changes – a process which could take years.

“Most housing projects which have not yet been given grid capacity may be halted, and that in the province with the greatest need for more,” Utrecht provincial official Huib van Essen told MPs during the meeting.

In Eindhoven, 62,000 new homes may not be built because local grid operator Enexis has not reserved spare capacity for housing, while in Almere and Amsterdam, 60,000 homes may not be built because they cannot be connected to the grid, the FD said.

The government has a target of building 100,000 new homes a year, although this has not been met since it was introduced.