The phasing out of the most important subsidy scheme for solar panels on homes is in jeopardy, because PvdA and GroenLinks believe that the cabinet takes insufficient account of people in social rental homes. Is it true that they will be affected by the abolition of the so-called net metering arrangement, and what can replace it?
De salderingsregeling is inmiddels bijna twintig jaar oud en mag worden gerekend tot een van de populairste subsidies van Nederland. Al jaren zorgt de regeling dat het voor woningeigenaren aantrekkelijk is om zonnepanelen op hun dak te leggen. Eén op de drie koopwoningen wekt inmiddels zonne-energie op.
Het succes is zo groot dat de subsidie volgens het kabinet niet meer nodig is. Zonnepanelen worden tegenwoordig veel sneller terugverdiend, ook zonder het voordeel op de energierekening dat de salderingsregeling garandeert. Daarom wil het kabinet de subsidie vanaf 2025 stapsgewijs afbouwen. Dinsdag stemt de Tweede Kamer over dat plan.
Pas een op de zes huurwoningen heeft zonnepanelen
Maar bij de verduurzaming zijn (sociale) huurwoningen achtergebleven: pas één op de zes heeft zonnepanelen. De salderingsregeling is vooral interessant voor woningeigenaren die investeren in zonnepanelen en vervolgens zelf een lagere energierekening tegemoetzien. Bij huurwoningen komt het voordeel van de salderingsregeling geheel op de energierekening van de huurder terecht, terwijl de aanschaf- en installatiekosten volledig voor rekening van de verhuurder zijn.
Om hun huurwoningen toch te verduurzamen, kunnen woningcorporaties een maandelijkse vergoeding vragen aan huurders als zij zonnepanelen krijgen. Die vergoeding wordt door de huurder ‘terugverdiend’ via de lagere energierekening. Zo hebben mensen in huurwoningen via een omweg toch profijt van de salderingsregeling.
Maar als die regeling verdwijnt, pakt de energierekening weer iets hoger uit. Daardoor wordt het minder aantrekkelijk om zonnepanelen te plaatsen op huurwoningen, waarschuwen woningcorporaties. Zij kunnen een minder hoge vergoeding vragen aan huurders en doen er dus een stuk langer over om hun investering in de panelen terug te verdienen.
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‘Solar panels unprofitable for corporations’
That warning is not new. More than two years ago, the government already research do about this issue. A tour of housing associations showed that there would be “a higher threshold” for them to invest.
Another research commissioned by Aedes, the umbrella organization of housing corporations, came to the conclusion that from 2024 it would no longer pay to invest in solar panels on social rental homes. But the cabinet did not come up with measures to do anything about it.
According to climate minister Rob Jetten, phasing out the net metering scheme is actually good for people with lower incomes, because they now contribute to the subsidy for often wealthier households that have solar panels through their energy bill. With current energy prices, people without solar panels pay “a few tens extra per month” for their electricity, according to ACM regulator. That benefit goes to people with solar panels.
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‘Game’ during election time?
Thanks to PvdA and GroenLinks, the rent issue is suddenly central to the debate on the net metering scheme. The parties do not want to support the phasing out of the subsidy, unless the cabinet comes up with measures to help make the social rented sector more sustainable. In the House of Representatives, the cabinet does not need the left-wing parties. In the Senate, the cabinet does need opposition parties to form a majority and to abolish the net metering scheme.
Jetten says he will talk to housing corporations about their concerns. Earlier, the cabinet made agreements with the corporations to accelerate the sustainability of poorly insulated homes. Now Jetten, together with fellow minister Hugo de Jonge of Housing and Spatial Planning (VRO), also wants to look at ways to get more solar panels on housing association homes.
GroenLinks and PvdA want to wait for those talks. To the chagrin of the coalition parties, they themselves have not come up with proposals to get more solar panels on social rental homes. “I actually think that this is just part of the homework of this cabinet,” said PvdA Member of Parliament Joris Thijssen. That “must learn to come up with climate policy that is sufficiently social”.
CDA Member of Parliament Henri Bontenbal pointed out that PvdA and GroenLinks themselves stated in their election program for the 2021 parliamentary elections that the net metering scheme should be phased out. According to him, they no longer dare to abolish the popular subsidy. “Elections are coming up and you find it difficult to explain to your supporters.”
Corporations want a different kind of subsidy
If the net metering scheme does indeed disappear, Aedes wants the cabinet to offer a different form of subsidy to housing associations that install solar panels on tenants’ roofs. There is already an investment subsidy for companies, associations of owners and corporations that equip larger buildings with a solar roof.
That investment subsidy, which covers about 20 percent of the purchase costs of solar panels, must also be opened up to single-family homes owned by corporations, says Aedes spokesman Ernst Koelman. “In practice, this subsidy directly benefits tenants, because corporations can use it to keep the compensation for panels in the service costs for tenants as low as possible.”
Without any form of subsidy, according to Koelman, it will be more difficult for housing associations to convince tenants to agree to the installation of solar panels. It becomes less clear to them whether it pays off. “Due to the current discussion about the net metering arrangement, we already see that tenants are more likely to have doubts,” says Koelman. “That’s why the investment subsidy is so important.”
It is not yet clear whether Jetten sees potential in Aedes’ plan. An investment subsidy is “part of the talks that the minister for VRO and I will be having with the housing corporations in the coming weeks,” he said in the House of Representatives.
