Utilities in the Netherlands: set up energy, water and heating

This guide is for newcomers moving into a self-contained home. Some rooms and studios include energy or water in the rent or servicekosten (service costs). The landlord then holds the contract. Ask for a written breakdown before signing. The Dutch rental-contract guide explains inclusive rent and service costs.

For individual electricity or gas, you choose the supplier. Your address determines the water company and the building’s heat supplier. Check your lease, service-cost statement or purchase documents to see which utilities you arrange yourself.

Check whether the home uses gas before ordering a gas contract. A home may be all-electric, have shared heating or include some utilities in the service costs. Check the meters, lease and handover documents. If these records conflict, ask the landlord, seller or building manager in writing before choosing a contract.

Follow these steps to match the contract dates and readings to the days you receive and return the keys.

• 1. Read the lease or purchase documents and list the utilities you must arrange yourself.
• 2. Report the move to each current energy supplier no later than 2 weeks beforehand. If you need a new supplier, arrange a contract before moving.
• 3. Ask the energy supplier to confirm the date supply will start at the new address.
• 4. Register any water account with the regional company from the day you get the keys. Rijksoverheid (Dutch government): find your drinking-water company (External site, opens in a new tab) explains the regional system.
• 5. Photograph every electricity, gas, heat and water meter when you get the keys. Record each meter number and reading in the handover report if possible.
• 6. Give energy readings to the supplier within 5 days if the meter did not send them automatically.
• 7. Give water readings on the date the water company requests. Save the photos and confirmations.

For individual electricity or gas, the supplier handles your contract and bills. The netbeheerder (grid operator) handles the local network and meter. Use the table to choose your contact.

You choose the energy supplier. Your region determines the grid operator. Find it by entering your postcode and house number in Mijnaansluiting.nl (grid-operator lookup) (External site, opens in a new tab). For ordinary household supply, your energy supplier collects network charges on your energy bill.

Fixed contracts can carry an early-exit fee. Variable and dynamic contracts have no fixed-contract exit fee. See ACM ConsuWijzer (consumer advice service of Autoriteit Consument & Markt, the Dutch markets regulator) (External site, opens in a new tab) for how the rates change.

Compare the estimated total annual cost, including fixed charges and any charges for electricity your solar panels send to the grid. Use more than one comparison site and read the contract summary. Confirm that the supplier has an ACM licence.

An energy contract agreed online, by phone or away from the supplier’s business premises has a 14-day bedenktijd from the day you agree. Cancel by letter or email within that period, without giving a reason or paying an exit fee. The supplier must explain the cooling-off period and how to cancel.

If the required cancellation information is missing, your cooling-off period is extended by up to 12 months. If the supplier provides the missing information within 12 months of the agreement, you have 14 days from receiving it to cancel.

If you need supply during the cooling-off period, you must expressly request it. If you then cancel, you may still have to pay for energy already used. Confirm the start date with the supplier before the day you get the keys.

If a supplier calls you to offer a new contract, the contract needs your written agreement. An agreement on paper, by email or online counts. Written agreement is not required if you call the supplier yourself, or for a renewal or change to an existing contract.

An opzegvergoeding (early-termination fee) can apply when you end a fixed-term contract early. The contract must state the fee and how the supplier calculates it. The fee covers the supplier’s expected loss. It is zero if the supplier’s current rate for a comparable contract covering the remaining term is at least as high as your rate.

Ask your supplier for an estimate before deciding. The final fee uses the referentieproductaanbod (reference offer) price when your supplier receives your cancellation or switching notice. Once your supplier gives you the final fee, it stays fixed for 2 months.

Moving or emigrating does not automatically remove the fee. The notice period is at most 1 month. Your new supplier arranges the switch.

Many households pay a termijnbedrag (monthly advance). The supplier compares these payments with actual use in the jaarafrekening (annual settlement). A low advance can leave a large amount to pay later. A high advance leaves money with the supplier until settlement. Check the usage data after the first cold months and adjust the advance to match your expected costs.

After a move or switch, the eindafrekening (final bill) must arrive within 6 weeks. Check it against your readings and the payments you already made.

Grid operators began replacing remaining analog electricity and gas meters on 1 January 2026. For electricity meters, the appointment letter can arrive in 2026 or 2027. You may refuse a smart electricity or gas meter. You must then accept a digital meter and report the readings yourself.

You may also ask the grid operator to switch off a smart meter’s communication function. With a digital meter or disabled communication, report your readings yourself for the annual settlement and when you switch suppliers.

Stadsverwarming (district heating) supplies heat through a local network. Blokverwarming (block heating) uses a shared heat source for a building or complex. You cannot choose the heat supplier. Check separately whether you need your own electricity contract.

Your rights depend on whether you buy heat directly or receive it through a landlord or VvE. Check this arrangement before using the maximum prices below.

If your landlord supplies heat, you normally receive an annual settlement. The exception is a fixed heat payment that stays the same regardless of use. For a dispute about rental heat costs, check the route for your tenancy with the Huurcommissie (Rent Tribunal): service-cost disputes (External site, opens in a new tab).

These 2026 maximum prices apply to direct customers within the 100 kW limit whose heat is ready for heating and hot tap water. Multiply the heat-use rate by the number of GJ (gigajoules) you use, then add the fixed and measuring charges once a year. The prices include tax.

Heating-only and hot-water-only connections have different limits. Heat that needs further warming can also have different limits. Use ACM’s Warmtetarieven checker (heat-tariff checker) (External site, opens in a new tab) to find your category.

For a home receiving heat ready for heating and hot tap water, 10 GJ costs €409.70 at the 2026 maximum rate. Add €615.66 and €33.73 for the two annual charges. Those three charges total €1,059.09. Rental of an afleverset (heat delivery unit) and other applicable charges are extra, so this is not a full bill estimate. Check your supplier’s tariff sheet.

A landlord or VvE receives tariff protection when all three conditions apply. It must hold its own contract with an outside heat supplier. It must pass the heat to residents. Every resident’s individual connection must be at most 100 kW. This limits the supplier’s charge to the landlord or VvE. It does not directly cap each resident’s bill. ACM’s heat-customer rights (External site, opens in a new tab) explain these arrangements.

Your address determines the drinking-water company. Register any account you need from the day you get the keys. If the old and new addresses use the same company, report the move and give both readings when requested. If they use different companies, close the old account and register with the new one. Keep the meter photos until both bills are final.

Drinking-water charges and local water taxes pay for different services. You may pay the municipal sewer charge to the municipality or, in some places, through your water bill. Check your bills to see which charges they include. Some taxes may appear on one assessment.

The municipal and water-board taxes guide explains who pays each tax and how to request kwijtschelding (a tax waiver). A low income can qualify you for a waiver, but the authority also checks your assets and necessary expenses.

If you have no power, first check the fuse box and whether neighbours also have an outage. Contact the grid operator for a network or meter fault. If you received a no-contract letter, contact an energy supplier and the grid operator the same day. Follow the letter’s deadline and confirm when supply will start. You need your own contract if energy is not included; the previous resident’s contract covers their account.

Compare the opening, annual or final bill with your dated meter photos. Check whether the bill labels a reading as estimated. If a reading is wrong, send the photo, meter number and handover date to the supplier. Ask for a corrected bill. Keep the original bill and the written reply.

If you cannot pay an energy bill, take these steps:

• 1. Contact the supplier and ask for a reasonable payment plan as soon as you know you cannot pay.
• 2. Respond to each reminder.
• 3. Apply to your gemeente for schuldhulpverlening (debt help).
• 4. Send proof of your application to the supplier.
• 5. Keep to an agreed payment plan.

Before ending your contract for non-payment, the supplier must send at least 3 reminders. Each reminder must allow at least 14 days to pay.

The supplier cannot end your contract for unpaid bills while any one of these protections applies:

• You keep to an agreed payment plan.
• Your debt to this supplier entered a debt-help process in time, and that process is still running.
• You sent proof of your debt-help application in time and await the municipality’s decision.
• Your complaint about the bill or payment is being handled under the supplier’s complaints procedure.
• Your dispute about the bill or payment is pending with a dispute body the supplier belongs to.
• You have given the supplier a medical statement for yourself or a housemate.

For debt-help protection, you must act within a reasonable time after a reminder. The supplier must allow at least 4 weeks for its debt to enter a debt-help process, or for you to send proof of your application.

The medical statement must show that ending supply would create very serious health risks. The doctor must not treat the person at risk. Protection lasts while that risk continues.

The supplier also cannot end supply for unpaid bills during the first 4 weeks after sharing your details with debt-help services. These protections concern non-payment. Fraud or misuse is a separate ground for ending supply.

Before disconnecting water for non-payment, the company must send a written reminder and try to contact you personally. The reminder must explain debt help and medical protection. It must offer to share your details with debt-help services, with your written consent. After contact attempts, the company must share the details if you have not responded to that offer. This no-response rule does not apply if you explicitly refuse.

If disconnection would cause very serious health risks for you or a household member, send a medical statement within a reasonable time. The doctor must not treat the person at risk. This protects you against disconnection for unpaid bills. Fraud or misuse by you is a separate exception. So is an unsafe installation that makes disconnection necessary.

For a planned disconnection over unpaid bills, request water containers before the water is cut off. The containers must hold at least 4 days of drinking water: at least 3 litres per person per day. Be present before disconnection so the company can fill them. Contact your gemeente about debt help and restoring the supply.

Follow these steps when you leave a home:

• 1. Tell each current energy supplier about the move no later than 2 weeks beforehand.
• 2. Ask whether your contract can cover both addresses during an overlap.
• 3. Check any fixed-contract exit fee before cancelling.
• 4. Photograph the meters on the last day.
• 5. Submit energy readings within 5 days if they were not sent automatically.
• 6. Follow the water company’s reading date. If both addresses use the same company, report the move. If they use different companies, close the old account and register with the new one.

Keep confirmations, meter photos and first bills together.

If you are setting up a new home, use the arrival checklist below for registration, insurance and banking.

Internet and mobile contracts are separate from energy and water.

Continue with these guides:

• First 90 days in the Netherlands: arrival checklist
• Phone and internet in the Netherlands
• Debt help in the Netherlands