Rates for Dutch heating networks were already more expensive than abroad, and that difference continues to grow. Consumer prices here are two to three times higher than Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany. Prices are also rising faster here and are close together, according to research by TNO.
Last year, the rates here averaged 66 euros per gigajoule (GJ). A household uses district heating according to Milieu Centraal on average 35 GJ per year.
Dutch rates were two to three times higher than in four countries TNO looked at: Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany. The costs for runner-up Germany were already considerably lower: 38 euros. Average rates were lowest in Sweden at 23 euros per GJ.
TNO used an integral rate to compare the heat rates, which includes both the use-dependent part and the use-independent part. The annual accounts divided by heat consumption are expressed in euros per GJ.
The rates of heating companies have risen along with the price of natural gas. That was allowed as long as the price did not exceed it. This link is laid down in the Heat Act. However, heating companies did not have to make transparent what the rising rates were based on. Other countries do not have such a direct link with the gas price.
Rising faster
Because energy prices have risen sharply, several governments have imposed a price ceiling. Without a price ceiling, the rates for Dutch heating networks were not 66, but 96 euros per GJ.
What is also striking is that rates in the Netherlands have increased more sharply from 2019 to 2023 than in the other countries. In Sweden with 11 percent, here with 66 percent. Here too, the runner-up (Finland, 28 percent) is a lot lower.
Furthermore, the differences between heat rates of the largest providers (including price ceiling) appear to be quite small here. This may be due to the maximum rates coupled with few financial incentives for suppliers to ask for a lower rate.
In Denmark, heat rates vary considerably because they are based on the varying costs of suppliers.
Explaining the rates remains difficult, says TNO, because they depend on various factors. While in the Netherlands it is closely related to the gas price, in Denmark it is based on the costs of the heating network. The gas price has little to do with that.
used for the calculation TNO public data from heating companies, regulators and consumer organizations. TNO relied on research by Copenhagen Economics, which concluded that the above-mentioned countries can be compared well.
Affordability is an important issue in the realization of heating networks. In Amsterdam, the development of the ‘Warm Amsterdam’ heating network was stalled after Vattenfall withdrew.
The reason for this is the uncertainty that followed the emergency law that Minister Jetten sent to Parliament in an attempt to make heating networks affordable. Vattenfall then urgently wanted to sit down with the minister.
