Take Randy Cleijssen. Like his partner, he drives an electric car that he charges at home and will soon have a heat pump to heat the house. Cleijssen did his best to live as sustainably as possible. He no longer uses gas, but as a result his electricity bill is considerably higher. “We will therefore have to pay the market price for a large part of our energy consumption.”
According to Cleijssen, the cabinet should have taken greater account of the people who are working for a sustainable future in the ceilings. Why can’t you get a higher fee for electricity if you don’t use gas?
Four groups of people
Current plans call for consumers to pay a maximum rate for gas and electricity from January 1. For gas, it is currently 1.50 euros per cubic meter, for electricity 0.70 cents per kilowatt hour. A maximum gas consumption of 1200 cubic meters per year and 2400 kilowatt hours applies, for anything above the market price.
According to a tour by RTL Nieuws, these current plans are affecting about four groups of people. People with poorly insulated (rented) houses, people who have district heating (heating network), the chronically ill and landlords who rent rooms to students or workers.
–
–
Little isolated house
The first group consumes a lot of energy due to poor insulation. But they often don’t have the money to make it more sustainable or to insulate better. And for the tenants: it’s not their home, so better insulating the walls or roof is not an easy thing to do.
Chronically ill, for example patients with rheumatism, sometimes have above-average warming sets. Sometimes they also have aids such as a stairlift, an electric wheelchair, and an electric door that can be opened remotely. So they use more energy than average.
Hosts of the student rooms
The owners of the student rooms are also the losers. Often you only have one connection for the house and several tenants who each use heating and electricity. This means that you are well above the energy ceiling. And you can pass that higher price on entirely to your tenants only if the rent doesn’t include heating costs.
District heating
Those on the heat network, such as district heating, do not use gas. But sometimes they use more electricity, for example because they have an electric boiler. People will then quickly exceed the ceiling of 2400 kilowatt hours per year.
Energy prices for heat networks and gas prices are also linked. So you pay a high price for the heating network, but there is no ceiling.
–
–
Forgotten group
The Consumers’ Association believes that implementation needs to be improved. “The current proposal does nothing for households with a connection to the heat grid and consumers who heat with electricity are also left behind.”
Sandra Molenaar, director of the Consumers’ Association: “We find it incomprehensible the government’s choice to reduce mainly the price of gas, but much less the price of electricity. This plan goes directly against the policy of encouraging consumers to turn off gas and switch to electricity “.
Consumers who have invested heavily in, for example, a heat pump are the victims, he notes. “Despite all good intentions, it will soon be cheaper to turn off the heat pump and burn the gas again. This is inexplicable.”
District heating
In addition, the Budget Memorandum says nothing about the heating network (district heating), also notes the Consumers’ Association. “It seems the planners have forgotten this group,” says Molenaar. The gas tariff subsidy that has now been announced does not change the high market price of gas, Molenaar says. “So the warming rates for 2023 are increasing. There has to be a regulation for that as well.”
–
–
