Solar panels, net metering and your charger after 2027

The net metering scheme (saldering) ends in the Netherlands on 1 January 2027. Since 2004, netting was the engine under residential solar: everything you fed back could be offset against what you drew. That is about to end.

The headlines are gloomy: solar panels would no longer pay off. For a household without an electric car that is largely true. But if you drive electric and charge at home? Then it is more nuanced • and less changes than you would think.

What changes on 1 January 2027?

Netting disappears entirely. You still feed electricity back to the grid, but you receive a feed-in payment instead of an offset. That payment is set in law: for the first years, suppliers must pay you at least half of your supply rate. Lower than netting, but not zero.

This flips the maths. Until the end of 2026 it barely mattered when you used your solar power • netting settled it anyway. From 2027 onwards: a kWh you use directly yourself is worth far more than a kWh you feed back.

Your car is your cheapest storage

This is where driving electric helps. A home battery often takes years to pay back. But your car is already there • and every kWh you charge from your own roof during the day is one you do not have to buy back expensively in the evening or feed back for a pittance.

So charge as much as you can during the day, while your panels are producing, and your own solar becomes your cheapest electricity. After 2027, that is the real earning model of solar plus EV.

And then ERE is added on top

On top of that saving sits the ERE income. Since 1 January 2026, every kWh you charge at home with an MID-certified charger generates an Emission Reduction Unit • regardless of whether that electricity came from your roof or the grid.

At an indicative price of around € 0.10 per kWh that adds up. Charge around 3,000 kWh per year at home and that is roughly € 300 gross. Our service fee comes off that • 20% as standard, down to 10% through referrals. Joulo handles the entire registration with the NEa automatically and pays out quarterly. You do nothing.

Note: your solar panels do not generate extra ERE. The payment uses the grid-average renewable share (50.5% in 2026), not your own generation • ERE counts on the kWh you charge, not its source. How that conversion works is explained in The ERE credit.

What can you do now?

- Check your charger. Only a charger with a built-in MID meter counts towards ERE. Run the charger check. - Shift your charging to daytime while your panels are producing • so you use your own solar instead of feeding it back. - Sign up for ERE. Sessions count from 1 January 2026, retroactively too • your first payout then includes your accrued credits. - A home battery? Work it out calmly. For home charging the car is often already the cheapest storage; a battery only pays back over the longer term. If you do go for one, our partner ISDE.nl can handle the subsidy application for you.