The Dutch coalition parties strive for a level playing field for the industry. Aurora’s study shows that the Dutch energy-intensive industry will incur significantly higher grid fees in 2024, and without intervention, the competitive position will further deteriorate towards 2045. To bring the grid fees for large consumers in line with those in neighbouring countries, over 300 mn € annually is currently needed, growing to more than 500 mn € by 2030.

Network costs in the Netherlands are regulated by the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) and cover transmission and system services. In the past two years, costs have nearly tripled, rising from 897 mn € to 2.5 bn € in 2024, primarily due to adjustments for high energy prices in 2022. Tennet, the Dutch transmission system operator (TSO), expects that costs will only decrease slightly in 2025 and 2026, as lower energy costs are partially offset by rising investments in the (offshore) grid and prepayments for future energy cost corrections.

The Aurora study provides a forecast of total network costs towards 2045. These are translated into grid fees for two typical consumption profiles: a flexible consumption profile of 3,000 full load hours and a baseload consumption profile of 8,000 hours. The study shows that grid fees in Germany, Belgium, and France are currently often more than 80% lower than in the Netherlands for both types of consumers. By 2030, Aurora expects that grid fees in the Netherlands will remain higher than those of neighbouring countries for baseload consumers—15 times as high as in France, 6 times as high as in Germany, and 4 times as high as in Belgium. For flexible consumption, coming from new electrification technologies such as e-boilers and electrolysers, grid fees remain up to seven times as high as abroad, hindering the energy transition.

Representatives of the involved companies and Aurora presented the report to Minister Hermans of Climate and Green Growth on August 14. In an accompanying letter, the companies request the minister to develop measures for both the short and long term to ensure that network costs in the Netherlands align with those of other European countries.

Photo caption: Representatives of the energy-intensive industry present the Aurora report to Minister Hermans. In the photo, from left to right: Guido Smit (Shell), Jeroen Klumper (Tata Steel Netherlands), Sophie Hermans (Minister of Climate and Green Growth), Henk Leenders (Nyrstar), and Jesse Hettema (Aurora).

Notes to Editors:

All monetary values are presented in 2023 real values.

The network costs mentioned are shown excluding the costs for phase 1 of the offshore grid at sea, as these are not paid through the grid fees.