Grid opreators forcing Dutch to switch to new meter box to stop solar power netting

Starting in January, grid operators will force over half a million Netherlands residents to replace their old rotary meters with digital ones. Solar panel owners in particular are trying hard to hold onto the old meters, because they make it possible to offset the solar power they feed into the grid against their energy bills without paying the feed-in costs, AD reports.

The old rotary meters don’t register feed-in, but instead literally spin backwards when electricity is fed into the grid. Households with these meters, therefore, don’t pay feed-in charges because it is unclear how much electricity they feed back. The new digital meters continuously record electricity consumption and feed-in, which makes invisible netting impossible.

The net metering scheme - which allows solar power owners to deduct the power they feed into the grid from the power they use - will be abolished on 1 January 2027. But people still running on the old rotary meters can continue to offset their solar power without their power company being able to stop them. Depending on the number of solar panels and the energy use, it could save them between a few hundred and a few thousand euros per year.

According to Netbeheer Nederland, the industry association for grid operators, there are still 535,000 rotary meters in Dutch meter boxes. And most of these are in the homes of Dutch people reluctant to replace them. “Every household has received several offers over the past ten years to have their old meter replaced. They haven’t accepted. These are the notorious refusers,” Theo Scholte of Netbeheer Nederland told AD.

Leo Bakker from Dordrecht is one of these notorious refusers. “My rotary meter simply runs backward on a sunny day like today. It’s 30 years old and still works perfectly. I’m going to keep that old meter as long as possible,” he told the newspaper. If he can no longer net off the meter, his energy bill could rise by as much as 1,000 euros a year, he said.

Baker has no problem with dodging the feed-in charges that others have to pay. “Of course, I’m paying too little energy tax, but it’s the government that’s changing the rules with solar energy. We were encouraged to make our energy more sustainable, and now I’m suddenly no longer legally compliant? Sorry, government, that’s not how it works.”

But from 1 January 2026, when the new Energy Act takes effect, refusing the new digital meter will no longer be an option. The law stipulates that all analog meters must be removed.

Grid operators plan to replace the old meters in a big operation, checking off as many addresses per day as possible. “People will receive two offers. If the homeowner continues to refuse, they are not complying with the Energy Act, and the National Inspectorate for Digital Infrastructure will enforce this with a penalty.”