On October 8 the ACM proposed making the grid tariff for households time-dependent from 2029. It concerns the transport tariff, roughly a third of the electricity bill. About a third of it stays fixed (indicatively around €120 per year instead of today’s roughly €360); the rest depends on how much electricity you use and when. There will be four price levels and five time blocks a day; the most expensive block is between 16:00 and 23:00 in winter and between 19:00 and midnight in summer. According to the ACM, about 60 percent of households come out ahead; a small apartment gains €100 to €200 per year. A detached house with a heat pump and an electric car pays €300 to €450 more per year. The ACM still has to decide; the tariffs for 2029 will be set at the end of 2028.
The power grid is full in many places, especially at the evening peak. Grid operators cannot expand fast enough. Price incentives are meant to spread consumption. But they hit precisely the households that have electrified the most.
If you live small and use little electricity, you will probably come out ahead. If you have a heat pump or an electric car, it pays to shift charging and heating, although according to the ACM you will still end up paying more.
Whoever puts heavy strain on the grid at the busiest moment pays fairly for it. Without a price incentive there will be no spreading of demand.
The government promotes heat pumps and electric cars and then punishes the buyers with higher tariffs. You cannot switch a heat pump off on a winter evening.
In a single day the government made the heat pump the norm and evening power more expensive. The two plans have to be aligned, or the early green mover pays twice. Watch for the final ACM decision and for compensation for heat pumps.
ACM (draft code decision, Oct. 8) · NOS · NU.nl · de Volkskrant · De Telegraaf (Oct. 8)
Peak-hour power costs more from 2029. The more you run on electricity, the more you pay
The ACM wants the grid tariff for households to depend on when and how much electricity you use. Six in ten households come out ahead. A large home with a heat pump and an electric car pays hundreds of euros more.
Regulator ACM wants households to pay a grid tariff from 2029 that depends on the time at which they use electricity. Power at peak hours becomes more expensive, power at off-peak hours cheaper. NOS, NU.nl, de Volkskrant and De Telegraaf reported the proposal on Thursday. It concerns only the fee for transporting electricity over the grid, roughly a third of the electricity bill; the supply price and taxes do not change. Today a household pays a fixed amount of around €360 a year to the grid operator. Under the proposal about a third stays fixed, around €120, and the other two thirds depend on how much electricity you use and when. There will be four price levels and five time blocks a day. In winter, electricity is most expensive between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m., in summer between 7 p.m. and midnight. These amounts are indications based on this year’s costs. Anyone with solar panels may actually benefit in summer: on sunny afternoons, using the grid becomes cheap.
The ACM expects about 60 percent of households to come out ahead. A small apartment pays €100 to €200 less per year. Those who run a lot on electricity come out worse: a detached house with a heat pump and an electric car pays €300 to €450 more per year, even if the residents shift their use as well as they can. De Volkskrant pointed out that it is precisely large homes that have already gone green that get the bill. That clashes with Wednesday’s cabinet plan to make the hybrid heat pump the standard from 2029. With the new tariffs the ACM wants to reduce grid congestion: the power grid fills up mainly at the moments when everyone cooks, charges and heats at once. Anyone who charges their car at night, or runs the washing machine during the day when the sun is shining, can save money. In recent years grid operators have had to make tens of thousands of businesses and new housing developments wait for a connection. According to the ACM, spreading out use can prevent some of those expensive expansions, and in time lower costs for everyone. Energy suppliers will have to build the new tariffs into their contracts; a smart meter is needed for that. It is still a proposal. The ACM will decide later, and the exact tariffs for 2029 will only be set at the end of 2028.