Sharing power with your neighbours: what really works?

Solar panels on your roof, a surplus around noon, and a neighbour who could use the power. Sharing power with your neighbours sounds logical. Yet a cable over the fence is not an option. What does work?

Why a cable to the neighbours is not allowed

Every home has its own connection and its own meter. Power that passes your meter belongs to your contract and your installation. A fixed cable to another home does not fit in: it is unsafe and administratively wrong.

Energy sharing: legal since 2026, not yet in practice

Since 1 January 2026 the Dutch Energy Act allows you to share self-generated power with others administratively, through your energy supplier. Suppliers are not required to offer it, and most do not yet. Both households also need a smart meter and the same supplier. For most households it is not an option today.

What does work today: charging at the neighbours

A car battery is the easiest place to share power. When your neighbour charges on your driveway, the power from your connection • on a sunny afternoon largely your own solar power • goes straight into their car. No cable over the fence, no change to your installation: your charger is the sharing point.

And the bill?

The ERE covers almost all of it. Every home-charged kWh earns the owner of the connection an ERE credit: about € 0.16 per kWh, based on our realised sale prices. On a fixed tariff of 25 cents, 9 cents per kWh remain, about a euro per full session. During the day on a dynamic contract, power drops below those 16 cents, and then you keep the difference.

Why you do not ask for money

Before the ERE, sharing was a sum: your power, your cost, so a tariff and a payment request. Now that the ERE covers most of it, what remains per session is not worth a payment request. Selling power also makes you a supplier, with questions about VAT, tax and a licence. Free sharing on your own property has none of those questions, as the National Charging Infrastructure Agenda found in 'Laden bij de buren'. So with Joulo Share you simply say who is welcome. Joulo charges no service fee on shared kWh, your neighbours charge for free, and you barely notice.