Housing corporation umbrella group Aedes has reached a deal with the five biggest city heating companies in the Netherlands to shift housing away from gas, with no extra costs to ‘average tenants’.

The government’s climate agreement reached last year includes a commitment to remove 1.5 million homes from the gas grid by 2030, and housing corporations, which 2.2 million homes nationwide, are supposed to have a leading role in this.

Currently, some 25,000 to 30,000 homes are connected to city heating schemes every year and this has to be done on a street by street, or complex by complex, basis.

Cost

However, the corporations say they do not wish to switch to city heating schemes – involving surplus heat from industry and waste incineration – if it will mean higher bills for tenants.

Tenants organisations too are worried that city heating will work out more expensive than gas, and have concerns that monopolies are being created because households will not have a choice of provider.

However, the new deal, which Aedes hopes other city heating providers will follow, will give the corporations complete insight into the costs. ‘We can calculate the cost of investing in city heating using a transparent system, assuring our members and tenants that they will be paying a fair price,’ Aedes acting chairman Tonny van de Ven said.

The government has set aside €200m in subsidies to help pay for the change – with a maximum of €5,000 per dwelling.