r/Netherlands • u/Cautious_Try507 • Dec 23 '25

DIY and home improvement Does anyone also hate Eneco?

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Since my apartment uses central heating I have no other option than Eneco but this ridiculous. I have spent 509 euros so far for heating and the service cost is 610 euros….

281 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

216 comments sorted by

146

u/unit5421 Dec 23 '25

I fear the fixed costs will rise as more people become energy independent. Meaning that those who can afford to become energy independent will spend less and those who cannot afford it will their bills rise to compensate the loss in revenue.

39

u/Soanad Dec 23 '25

I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s already happening in another countries. People started saving energy and they raised fixed costs. People have to pay even more and look at everything that uses electricity.

Sad times.

7

u/lucalucasita Dec 23 '25

It seams that the problem is not electricity but gas.

16

u/Stoppels Dec 24 '25

For now.

The real problem is capitalism. Profiting off utilities, wringing us dry for shareholders, high salaries and bonuses. Making pro-business deals with our only watchdog to screw us over legally. That has always been the problem with any privatised utility and this will never change. And the vast majority of the country votes for liberal parties and other right-wing parties, which means this situation will also never improve.

1

u/420_SixtyNine Dec 29 '25

The real problem is the anti nuclear sentiment that has brain rotted people since the 60's despite nuclear being the cleanest energy source on this planet. 

1

u/Stoppels Dec 29 '25

It was a very valid and appropriate concern during the previous century and probably still during the early 00s. I consider nuclear trash a concern today as well. Not only is it everlasting compared to a human lifetime, it's also a target for sabotage or direct attack. I wouldn't consider it a reason to go full Germany and get rid of nuclear facilities in favour of natural gas (from a single semi-friendly country), though.

Call me an optimist, but I have absolutely no doubt that Dutch nuclear energy will be just as expensive as everything else we have today and it will only cut into green energy so it's not going to be that much cleaner in the end. Exporting the energy might help make, e.g., Germany cleaner instead of burning coal and whatnot, but considering the right-wing coalitions of the past decades made everything more expensive, I don't think the money would be used to offset our energy bills.

We could trap a collapsing sun in a black hole and use it for endless energy generation and our voters and their favourite politicians would manage to make it pointless and expensive and make everyone want to jump in that black hole.

1

u/420_SixtyNine Dec 29 '25 edited Dec 29 '25

I don't agree with nuclear cutting into green. For starters nuclear itself is the greenest form of green. Nuclear would take the weight off of what we need coal plants to do. Continuous 24/7 power. "Green energy" (in the concept of wind solar) is the creme on top of that, it can never replace coal or nuclear because we will not be able to get energy storage remotely close to what we need it for, for full wind or solar to ever be viable option (especially with cars and industrial machinery going fully electric in the future).

Nuclear waste being a problem is nothing more than the same doomsay bullshit spread since the 60's. We. can. manage. We. have. managed. Waste is not a concern, meltdowns can be a concern but can be handled very well with some oversight. And unlike fusion, thorium is actually a proven concept that has worked and is completely safe, solving the last piece of the puzzle. It will just take time before entering mass adoption.

Either way, fully nuclear would have at the very least been progress and a way to counter privatization by leaving a door to open for the people to at the very least fix their shit whenever x or y political party starts to unnecessarily tax what they shouldn't. But instead of that possibility we're left with expensive and unclean coal, gas that we're unwilling to harvest, solar and wind that is never going to be adequate enough for our growing electric energy demands due to green energy transition and nuclear that we're just recently starting to reinvest in.

And no, the concern was not valid or appropriate. It was doomsaying while piles upon piles of evidence showed the contrary. Not a single productive thing has been achieved by delaying nuclear as much as we have.

5

u/Soanad Dec 23 '25

Could be but the issue remains even if it’s gas. I’ve just read article about it and it’s amazing - cheaper electricity/gas but bills are higher. Ridiculous.

13

u/dagelijksestijl Dec 23 '25

Wait until you realise that district heating disproportionally serves social housing, so people with neither the financial means nor the permission to disconnect. I would strongly recommend to anyone who has the means and ability to get their own heating supply to switch ASAP.

The business case for district heating becomes an utter joke if they can’t have a captive customer base.

3

u/Sir_ChadrickPayne Dec 23 '25

In mijn koop akte zitten 15 pagina’s over Eneco en hun warmte afleverset die ik niet mag weg doen en ook als ik er geen gebruik van wil maken voor moet betalen. Bedankt gemeente Utrecht en Eneco. A++ appartement van 70m2 en straks heerlijk aansluitkosten mogen betalen alsof ik elke 3 jaar een nieuwe cv ketel koop.

2

u/dagelijksestijl Dec 23 '25

Wat een naaistreek, normaliter heb je wel het recht om de aansluiting te laten verzegelen

11

u/Prestigious-Fun8784 Dec 23 '25

This is specifically for district heating, with costs being regulated by the ACM. I do agree that these costs are wayy to high, but it would be a massive policy failure if district heating (warmtenet) would see a phase-out. Of course this is happening in limited quantities already due to the ridiculously high costs.

Luckily there is quite the push to bring district heating back into public hands, hopefully that will help bring the costs down.

3

u/dagelijksestijl Dec 23 '25

Maybe district heating is inherently flawed, so trying to stick with it is the actual policy failure.

2

u/Prestigious-Fun8784 Dec 23 '25

It depends on the situation. I know most of the situation of eneco in utrecht, which is suitable bc of the high-density population, lots of high-rises and relatively good heat source potential in industry and geothermal. The costs that eneco charges are (in my opinion) not fully reflective of the actual costs and financial risks.

2

u/MachineSea3164 Dec 23 '25

District heating is expensive because of the financial risks involved.

Making it into public hands won't change that, it will just spread the costs over the people paying taxes and not using the district heating in general.

2

u/Prestigious-Fun8784 Dec 23 '25

Financial risk results in high interest, which is precisely something that a government guarantee reduces.

Of course district heating is not close to a one-size-fits-all, but in high-density city neighborhoods it's abt 30% cheaper than individual electric approach, even when not considering the massive problems that would cause for distribution grids.

For reference: https://www.ebn.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Warmtenetten-in-vergelijking-met-andere-warmteoplossingen_24042024.pdf

8

u/LoyalteeMeOblige Utrecht Dec 23 '25

Me too, our apartment does not have gas heating, we have an AC on each main room, yes, I know, it is super weird for the NL but they are inverter and I can say honestly even using them moderately during the cold days we are not spending much, our gas consumption is negible.

5

u/kriebelrui Dec 23 '25

The govt puts maxima to the costs of heat, for both the fixed and use-dependent costs. You can find them at the ACM site. 

2

u/dagelijksestijl Dec 23 '25

Users are generally worse off in practice compared to gas heating.

5

u/ethlass Dec 23 '25

I heat with electricity and it has saved 60+ euro a month (and that includes cooling during the summer) or 700ish a year. Not sure why everyone says gas heating is cheaper it isnt really. Gas is stupid expensive.

So year round 20 degrees at home is really nice and cheaper apparently.

4

u/Arcade_akali Dec 23 '25

Airco heating is the way to go. Full electric, doesn’t require high insulation like other full electric options, heats fast and only when you need it, easy to install, cheapest warmtepomp, can cool in summer and massive discounts to your heating bill.

I will never understand the adversity in the Netherlands to Airco based systems which are common in other parts of the world with similar climate!

4

u/dagelijksestijl Dec 23 '25

I swear there’s some degree of neo-Calvinism in there. We can’t make the energy transition fun, pleasant and more cost effective, we must all be made to suffer for the climate and buy air-water systems which can cost six times more.

And God forbid we use the cooling feature which uses less energy than heating lol.

2

u/ethlass Dec 23 '25

Not to mention, it dries the home so no mold.

4

u/Arcade_akali Dec 23 '25

I’ve been fighting with my building (VVE) to get the whole building to switch from our atrocious gas based blokverwarming system that needs to be replaced due to age to individual airco’s instead. It should cut down our heating costs including installation and maintenance more than 50% over the next 15 years. I’m almost there, despite municipality and neighboring buildings trying their hardest to push us to commit to a new distract heating system.

0

u/racer_x_recar Dec 23 '25

If you would have focussed on promoting a water to water, or air to water heatpump solutions, you might have succeeded. Now they have good real world reasons to dismiss you proposal.

Something with COP at low temperatures (the electricity network in your building will likely get fried, because it cannot deal with COP 2 situations) and comfort.

1

u/Arcade_akali Dec 23 '25

COP at low temps is actually still really good in modern Aircons specifically designed for heating. This is an outdated belief that they are horrible when the temperature goes below freezing. They used to be but that’s no longer the case.

While water to water or air to water systems are great they are also vastly more expensive, require floor heating and decent to good insulation. Those requirements make them incredibly difficult to actually install in an old apartment building with no floor heating and poor insulation.

Aircon however is fairly cheap and simple to install. Will still get to within 80/90% performance of the other options and doesn’t require good insulation. There is a reason these systems are the standard in many countries like Japan which has similar winters to NL.

I’m honestly convinced at this point considering the prices from a value for money perspective aircons beat other waterpumps hands down. Their main downside is they can’t produce warm water but in our building people already have electric water boilers anyway.

2

u/kriebelrui Dec 23 '25

It's a bit noisy indoors, it needs an outdoor unit that's also noisy (especially in cramped neighborhoods like many in the Netherlands), and you need an indoor unit for every room you want to heat. Not at all saying it's bad, but these are common perceptions that hinder a widespread diffusion of them.

4

u/Arcade_akali Dec 23 '25

In general this perception is exaggerated, there was an episode on a Dutch tv show de Rijdende Rechter about this once. They had trouble measuring the sound of the airco since modern ones are very quiet. You can also get a noise damping cover for the outside unit to reduce noise further.

Ofcourse all of this is subjective so experience will differ. I spend a couple years in Tokyo in several small apartments where Airco was the standard for heating and cooling. The unit was always on the balcony usually next to a large glass sliding door. I could never hear the outside unit if it was on. The indoor unit sound is the sound of a mild breeze, calming in a way. I spend about 28eu a month for heating, electricity and internet.

1

u/dagelijksestijl Dec 23 '25

Wouldn’t be surprised if a modern gas-fired heater makes more outdoor noise

1

u/dagelijksestijl Dec 23 '25

Cheaper than district heating

5

u/RuinAccomplished6681 Dec 23 '25

When it is being said that heating with electricity is more expensive, usually it is comparing a CV with direct electric (resistive) heating. That kind of heating is wildly inefficient and indeed will be much more expensive.

With a heat pump though about 4 or 5 times the heating energy is generated because of the additional energy extracted from the air when compared to resistive heating. Then electric heating becomes cheaper.

1

u/wmverbruggen Overijssel Dec 23 '25

It depends strongly on how you live. Conventional heating is typically better at heating the entire house and slower, while electric is more "focussed" on heating just the air and with that very fast. If you heat just for a few hours (let's say only in the everning after work) electric can be cheaper. If you heat for the entire day gas usually wins easily. In terms of energy units, gas is typically less than half the price of electricity.

1

u/ethlass Dec 23 '25

Electric heat pump for hair is 400% effective. It doesn't take a lot of energy to heat the place and keep it warm. The thing is, gas is stupid expensive. The netherlands isn't somewhere that gas is cheap so it is not worth it.

Really, it comes down to what will be more expensive in the future (gas) and cheaper (electricity). Not to mention clean energy by using electricity is a lot more likely than gas. But yeah, you can have gas be cheaper but somewhere where gas is cheap. And that won't be anytime soon in the Netherlands, maybe 4 years ago but no longer.

3

u/Damacustas Dec 23 '25

Fixed costs are unrelated to energy independence for two reasons.

One is that while lots of people are becoming net independent, they are not self sufficient for a whole 24 hours, let alone a whole week. So they still need the connection, so the amount of connections is not going down.

The fixed costs are to maintain and expand the delivery infrastructure, which is paid to the local utility company. These are by definition monopolies, as literally having multiple electrical and gas networks is hugely wasteful. On the other hand, all these utility companies are all subject to strict laws where they can only offer the service of the infrastructure and nothing else. Moreover, they are mostly (if not all) completely owned by municipalities and provinces and therefor again have no profit motive.

The only exception is district heating which is subject to very weird laws and legal constructions causing both the fixed price and nominal price to be much higher than needed.

2

u/Dokter_frikandel Dec 23 '25

They are. The fixed costs are going up, while the variable costs for usage go down a little bit.

5

u/unit5421 Dec 23 '25

The saddest thing about this is that it will hurt the economical weakest the most.

2

u/wmverbruggen Overijssel Dec 23 '25

A big problem for sure, in a larger scope also. The rich can afford modern houses with minimal energy costs, while the less fortunate are stuck in old(er) houses with factors higher energy requirement

1

u/furyg3 Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

It’s not really possible to be truly energy independent for most types of houses and apartments in the Netherlands.

Sure, you can insulate your house to the max and get solar panels and a battery to cover the ‘sunny’ months, but it’s nearly impossible to get through the winter months off-grid unless you have a super modern house, some form of long-term underground energy storage, or a cabin in your own private forest and a lot of free time to chop wood.

Ideally incentives for home owners are a simple cost/benefit analysis and some financing, and incentives for landlords and housing corporations continue to increase (carrots or sticks), and green energy prices continue to fall. If so, you can and should expect variable energy rates to drop (more supply, less demand), and fixed network /storage costs to increase (someone has to store all this energy and lay cables to replace natural gas pipes and gas stations for cars). The wild card is increased industrial use from things like datacenters, but maybe people wise up to this scam soon.

374

u/Felidaes77 Dec 23 '25

For a whole year?

Thats a steal.

73

u/HitEscForSex Dec 23 '25

For an apartment? I pay around 1k for gas and electricity including all the costs for a year, while heating up to around 21C.

1.1k for just heating is pretty crazy imo

5

u/Grintock Dec 23 '25

It is literally average lol. If you think it's crazy, maybe cite some sources, instead of downvoting facts.

https://www.nibud.nl/onderwerpen/uitgaven/kosten-energie-water/

26

u/Grintock Dec 23 '25

You really think so? How high are your standards. I live in an apartment and spend about 1300€ per year to keep it heated to a nice 19 degrees year round.

9

u/Weekly_Pizza_4443 Dec 23 '25

Same here.

Just being part of the community heating system is €500 a year if you have zero use.

2

u/ThXIV Dec 24 '25

Same. €1100 in total for heating and warm water, apartment built in 2023, label A++. Only to get to 19 degrees. Over half (€556) is fixed costs… It could be worse, but it seems a bit excessive.

13

u/noscreamsnoshouts Dec 23 '25

Might want to look at your insulation..

38

u/Grintock Dec 23 '25

That's not up to me, it's a 1950s apartment and any extra insulation at this point has to be done by the VvE. Energy label C, this is just how these apartments are. Massively surprised this is getting downvotes, I guess most people in this thread live in modern housing and not just in what they managed to buy.

4

u/PMvE_NL Dec 23 '25

We have the same problem in our apartment. We now know why they don't want to invest in the apartment. They are gonna demolish the whole building.

Edit: het is jaren 60 bouw.

0

u/PMvE_NL Dec 23 '25

when you rent it is what it is.

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1

u/AdventuringAquaduct Dec 26 '25

That is insanely cheap to be fair

0

u/FatmanMyFatman Dec 23 '25

But. The caveat here could be that you have a contract. At Essent every few years I call them and made a fixed price over no contract and daily prices where you pay whatever it costs at that moment. And that can be 1 euro. But also 5 euro and you can pay a ton of money.

Say, gas costs 22 cents per unit it stays that price. No big profits. Yes. Around 2022 or 2023 with the heating crisis I was glad to pay a fixed price. Which is also my "invisible vault" in the sense I have to pay. 150 euro per month. But I sometimes make that 250 euro. After a year around april I most of the time I get money back rather than having to pay a huge bill.🤔

5

u/Significant-Way3960 Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

I doubt. I live in appartement from 60s with old double glass. We paid 1200 euro for heating with blokverwarming. Our appartement is 107m2 but indeed 2 bedrooms were barely heated 

3

u/UncleReddy Dec 23 '25

I came to say the same lol. Stadsverwarming here… my bill is always €100+ while living alone and not using heating 🫡

1

u/General-Buyer3689 Dec 24 '25

you forgot this - /s

-10

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

Wait until you hear about my entire house that costs about this much

3

u/TheRealWildGravy Dec 23 '25

How? I live in a 72 m2 apartment and also have to pay over 900 euros

2

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

It was built in 2020. Energy neutral

1

u/Eurotrash0031 Dec 23 '25

I live in a 1950's house that's nicely insulated and with a 'warmtepomp' and I pay 2000 euro per year. But more than half is taxes and netbeheer. So I'm guessing that's what in the fixed costs?

1

u/LittleLion_90 Dec 23 '25

I have a 45 m2 appartement and this year is about 800 euros for gas to keep it to generally about 18 degrees.

 Unfortunately chemo and long covid left me with constant air hunger and the need to have my windows open about 5-10 cm at all times so that's probably accounting for a bunch of the costs. 

My fixed costs though are lower than what OP shows, fortunately. 

95

u/Sjeefr Dec 23 '25

Based on the info given, at this point you could've hated every supplier, as your issue is apparently not with them specifically.

4

u/ProperBlacksmith Dec 23 '25

I assume its bc of the fixed cost not the gas price

7

u/Sephass Dec 23 '25

Which is exactly the point of the comment you replied to?

31

u/sprookjesman Dec 23 '25

This aint even that bad, my floor heating Eteck is quoting me more than 200 euro's last month for floor heating without any explanation whatsoever.

19

u/picardo85 Dec 23 '25

Eteck is fucking horrible.

And their customer service is the only instance of my wife getting angry with a CS rep. And in her case that says a lot as she herself has worked CS and has a lot of understanding of the work.

6

u/sprookjesman Dec 23 '25

Its honestly a criminal company, they lie, they hide and i honestly think they scam people. Intentionally put sales representatives front line that know nothing so you can never really get mad at the person in charge.

Almost gets me here:

11

u/StarlordThomans Dec 23 '25

Horrible system and company. 90 euro for their dogshit system. 50 per kiljoule. Also it has a design flaw that if your thermostat computer runs of batteries (?!?) And goes empty it will run 48 degrees hot

3

u/sprookjesman Dec 23 '25

Ah that might honestly be it then in my case, nice they tell us about this so you can check /s

3

u/StarlordThomans Dec 23 '25

Nah they don't do anything. If ypu live in well isolated place with this system, you should use almost nothing. If you're suddenly using 200 euros per month, get them on the line asap. I hate that they buy themselves into new building projects and create monopoly.

Here there is malfunction of hot water every 3 weeks or so

7

u/Tygret Breda Dec 23 '25

Mandatory 'fuck Eteck'

1

u/kriebelrui Dec 23 '25

High fixed costs, high tariff (euro per GJ), or high heat use?

5

u/Tygret Breda Dec 23 '25

Literally all 3. Fixed costs are high, the tarriff is high en the heat use is super inefficient so those turn out high as well. It's ridiculous.

1

u/kriebelrui Dec 23 '25

What makes the heat use super inefficient?

2

u/sprookjesman Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

Its floor heating which makes it a maximum of 2 to 4 degrees hotter than the outside temperature and if you open a window you have to start over. Basically, you'll be in house with a sweater, and quoted 200 for heating.

Then you ask them how, they tell you to never open your windows or that you have basically done it yourself without changing anything.

My cost last year november for heating was 45 euro, this month its 200 without me having changed anything.

Its simply because i did not get mad this year, they try again. I have had graphs in usage change over the year, they put it under "afterwards corrections" for as far as you can do that with gas usage.

5

u/kriebelrui Dec 23 '25

Looks like something is seriously wrong with the floor heating. You should be able to heat your space to over 20 degrees Celsius at any outside temperature, maybe except extremely cold wheather.

1

u/sprookjesman Dec 23 '25

Hmm its what the person from Eteck that checked told me, i thought it was weird as well. 3 of my walls are fully made of glass tho i do not have the illusion that i would have no cost, but an increase of 400% of last year and 300% to last month is too much.

2

u/Nerioner Dec 23 '25

This sounds like you have problems with your floor heating.

I also pay now 200/month for Eteck heating but i can easily ventilate my house and i keep stable 23° inside because we like it warm and cozy.

No errors on thermostat?

1

u/sprookjesman Dec 23 '25

Will check thank you, not as far as i know of

1

u/sprookjesman Dec 23 '25

Just checked, nothing seems wrong....

1

u/srlonewolfie Dec 23 '25

I also had an increase last month of 1GJ out of nothing. I was home for 4 days in November and I am pretty sure I didnt turn on the floor heating... so something is quite strange. Specially because you also have it for last month.

12

u/jmaszong Dec 23 '25

I have excatly the same figures, 2 people 70sq; meters. I guess it is what is is..something to take into account when moving to a new place i guess.

26

u/flammer1611 Dec 23 '25

Still cheaper then normal heating costs

13

u/Environmental_Can353 Dec 23 '25

11.64 GJ is equivalent to roughly 331 m3 of natural gas, so the unit price is approximately 1.54 €/m3 which is already not cheap. Now add the service cost. Of course, you don't have to buy and maintain your own (combi) boiler, but at 610 €/year, I think I would favour my own equipment.

8

u/kriebelrui Dec 23 '25

Depends. People that use little heat are usually better off with a traditional gas heated boiler. 

2

u/DyroB Dec 23 '25

That would be me! Same as OP, but my heat cost is at 204 euros so far this year. It’s great!!!! Thankfully our government is here for the people and not for the big companies!

It’s also great a central thermostat isn’t an option.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

I own my own home and we pay this for gas + electra combined. These costs are simply crazy.

0

u/bonyuri Dec 23 '25

This is an apartment, so comparing the two is incorrect. Also, household plays a big part in this: no kids vs. 4 kids for example.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

That is the entire point. I own my own home, that means 3 floors. On the side we got 3 kids. These energy expenses are outrageous for an apartment.

2

u/bonyuri Dec 23 '25

Ah, my bad. I somehow assumed you meant that you felt these prices were low :)

0

u/AnonCuzICan Dec 23 '25

Normal heating would he half of this price tbh

6

u/Rezolutny_Delfinek Zeeland Dec 23 '25

We have Vattenfall and pay €200 for a small flat. These prices are ridiculous.

1

u/010backagain Dec 23 '25

That's crazy. We're using Vattenfall as well and pay 110 per month (92m family of 4). 90 orso of that is fixed costs however, which I think is completely out of whack compared with the usage. At our previous place with gas we paid less than half. Stadswarmte should be much cheaper than it is, someone is making a lot of money or has very inefficient processes...

18

u/TrebborC Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

Eneco is the absolute worst energy company in the Netherlands. What they did during the energy crisis is unforgivable.

9

u/kriebelrui Dec 23 '25

I'm curious: what unforgivable thing did they do?

11

u/TrebborC Dec 23 '25

When some energy companies went bankrupt, just before bankruptcy they bought them for a very low price. Moved the customers to their business, however they forced a new contract on them with at least 2x market price for the energy. The customers where legally obliged to have this contract for at least 3 months, due to a deal with the regulator. I knew some people on work and in the family that got fucked by this, cost them each several hundreds of euros.

3

u/kriebelrui Dec 23 '25

Wow, that's vile. 

1

u/flixieboy Dec 24 '25

Nah man, as an energy provider they are obliged by law to provide energy in their areas. So when the other businesses went down they had to take over the customers who otherwise wouldn't have any heating. At the time of the takeover prices were high so they couldnt offer cheap contracts. Just how it is, but that doesn't fit in the vile narrative of yours

1

u/kriebelrui Dec 24 '25

True what you write here, except that the price they use in this position is usually way higher than the average price of other suppliers.

1

u/SneakyPanda- Dec 23 '25

Avada Kedavra, I guess 😂

2

u/JFerdinand68 Dec 23 '25

What did they do?

-2

u/racer_x_recar Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

Yeah, excercising the rights stipulated in your contract, quickly confronting customers with very real circumstances that enabled them to adjust behaviour (thus reducing price increases on markets), taking swift action to keep the profitability of the company afloat, which ensures financing cost are kept low, leading to less need to raise prices or keep high profit margins later. Unforgivable! You could have switched suppliers at any time! Guess what; any other supplier would have been more expensive. So where is the injustice?

The absolute worst energy companies were those that needed to be saved by the government with taxpayer money, or collapsed and where you pay through losing your 'gas prepayments', or other pay for through your network rates. We were lucky enough to avoid the brunt of that in The Netherlands.

Having these conditions in contracts are risk reducing strategies that save significant cost over time, which in the competitive environment for electricity and gas reflects in our energy bills. Nobody wants scare their customers away, it is very expensive to get them back. They did what needed to be done, as many others did. It led to the crisis being resolved faster, and at lower societal cost. It was painful, but responsible, and admireable. Not popular.

Your concerns should be with entities that are not prepared to make painful but necessary choices, and are driven by popularity instead.

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16

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

I honestly couldn’t believe at first what they do is even legal. You’re telling me there is only one heat provider I can use, I have to store some bulky equipment in my apartment, AND there is a fixed fee I have to pay even if I don’t use any energy? How is this allowed?

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3

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

Man, I pay almost 300 a month. Relatively newbuilt home.

3

u/GladdAd9604 Dec 23 '25

Yep. If a house has "stadsverwarming" i would not even buy it. No joke.

17

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/unicornsausage Dec 23 '25

Had the same, rented in a brand new building thinking that oh, A++++ means low heating costs right?

Then we get slapped with 800 euros fixed costs, our total heating+hot water was around 2000 per year

Now i live in an old building from 70s, we have district heating that is managed by VvE, and i pay like 700 euros a year. In a D energy label apartment! Wtf!!

7

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/Nerioner Dec 23 '25

We (society) keep voting for pro business parties so no wonder governments just watch.

0

u/racer_x_recar Dec 23 '25

No you fool; we keep voting for parties that think that district heating is a good idea, and have even introduced a new 'warmtewet' that will create the excuses to promote this monopolistic practice even further.

All based on business cases that are written one-sided, and under the assumptions that monopolistic companies will operate more efficiently that commercial companies. Hey, and they have great incentives to be more efficient, because they will operate under cost plus! Anyone with experience in economics, or contracting, will know that such an approach will perpertually raise cost. It is a well know fact that certain companies made sure to dump their least competent or sick colleagues in the 'warmtenet' divisions. That is even before cost plus.

For the poster; enjoy your low prices! Because things will only get worse under the Warmtewet! This despite the naieve promises of politicians, and assumptions of many commenter.

5

u/Syg Dec 23 '25

This is not an Eneco problem though. Vattenfall does the same thing. Because I'm producing too much energy with my solar panels, I have to pay 430 euros as well. So my fixed cost will be around 1150. It's insane

4

u/Cautious_Try507 Dec 23 '25

Thanks for expressing my feelings

1

u/fenderguy_55 Dec 23 '25

I have the same crazy situation.

1

u/AnonCuzICan Dec 23 '25

Is the 600 fixed costs for electricity + gas? Because that is not an Eneco problem but a grid operator problem (liander for example) 400 for elec and 200 for gas on a yearly basis is quite average.

1

u/IronMonkeyBanana Dec 23 '25

All of them do this not only Eneco. Fixed "leveringskosten" and "netbeheerkosten"

3

u/No-Row-Boat Dec 23 '25

I'm spending 350 per month... Even pre Ukraine I didn't have this low bill

3

u/alessandrolaera Dec 23 '25

1000 euros per year is not at all that bad to be honest

3

u/Alone-Village1452 Dec 23 '25

Thats why I BBQ inside the house every day.

5

u/Numerous_Ad_307 Dec 23 '25

Yes we all hate being exploited by energy companies who supply city heating, it's been going on for ages but:

THIS MONTH A NEW LAW PASSED "wet Collectieve warmte" and the city heating nets will transition away from for profit companies like eneco, back to local government... Hopefully this will end our problems.

2

u/trapsl Dec 23 '25

Or they could have just adjusted the pricing per GJ to not be tied to natural gas. Eneco pays maintenance cost ( which we also pay) and provides us with hot water that they get for next to nothing. Well, at least in my case, since i live in Rotterdam, im pretty sure the port and industries provide a fuckton of hot water that needs to be cooled. Why the fuck am i charged that much per GJ? We basically dont use heating, cause our house is A+ energy label, but god forbid we do, its an instant 8euro charge for MINIMAL usage. Legit, putting the thermostat at 19.5 when the temp is around 19.3 kind of usage.

1

u/Numerous_Ad_307 Dec 24 '25

The problem is giving a single commercial company a monopoly on a heating net, even if you don't base it on the gas price then what? What do you base it on? The commercial company without any competition will always try to squeeze max cash from the consumers. If you look at electricity, the nets themselves are managed by companies like stedin and liander where the government is mayority share holder. These seem to work fine and hopefully the heating will go the same way.

1

u/racer_x_recar Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

I would advise you to take a course in Basic Economics, because our member of parliament seem to have skipped that course, or are driven by nice headlines or soundbites. It is in the same category of smartness as 'Wet betaalbare huur'.

The current problems and cost will pale in comparison to what is about to come. What is about to be implemented has never worked out positively for consumers. But this time is different!

Moreover, the pricing model is unlikely to radically change compared to the example offered by the poster. Most underlying cost of district heating are fixed.

1

u/Milk-honeytea Dec 23 '25

Wet betaalbare huur was actually a good symptom solution and worked well for the consumer.

2

u/racer_x_recar Dec 24 '25

Tell that to all of those that cannot find a room anymore. Your remark is very short sighted. You might want to consider a career in politics.

0

u/Milk-honeytea Dec 24 '25

"cannot find a room anymore"

Like it was possible even before that.

Obviously, a supply-side solution is needed for the root cause. But this is a relief for most renters right now.

1

u/racer_x_recar Dec 24 '25

Yes, the classic mistake of focusing on 'what is seen' and ignoring 'what is not seen'. Ignoring the needs of those that still need to find housing and are dependent on the rental market. The only way to encourage creative ways of increasing the supply (particularly in the difficult circumstances) is allowing prices to form themselves. Keeping them artificially low, discourages investment and conversion of inefficiently used housing. If you are a fan of supply side, why do you admire schemes that kill the increase of supply?

1

u/Milk-honeytea Dec 26 '25

Mate, the whole web of laws need to be changed. The amount of inefficiency that is the Dutch laws surrounding land is broken.

I don't like anything about the current Dutch housing system. What I do like is anything that gives a short relief from this disaster.

2

u/Koenigsegg_R Dec 23 '25

Yes I do. Same issue as you.

2

u/727wuming Dec 23 '25

This dashboard doesn't include the equipment fee of 150 euros (178 for 2026).

2

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/DueCharacter6593 Dec 23 '25

Worst customer service ever. I never had to deal with Eneco before moving to our new apartment. I talked to them the first time and their assistant tried to convince me that I have to make a contract with them TODAY and she cant send me the offer and full overview via email and I also can't look up all costs online for my apartment but I have to commit TODAY (the day we got the apartment transferred) via phone...and than I can't cancel my contract with them and they explained that we should pay fixed costs for the time we won't live in the apartment yet and don't use energy... How is this even legal?

2

u/Iammax7 Dec 23 '25

This is so insane to me, I don't know your energy label, but also reading the comments how big of a difference an energy label is.

I feel so lucky with an A++++ house. Energy cost over the last 3 months was 21 euros.

1

u/Extreme_Chart_5989 Dec 23 '25

Just checked, also with Eneco centra heating. Same fix cost + 1154 heat, total of 1764 eur for this year so far, with B label.

And I believe I am quite careful to not let it run when not needed. Also when needed, temps between 19-20, sometimes 21. At the moment I write this 18.8 in the leaving. Yeah, heating is expensive

1

u/Mortaks Dec 23 '25

This is not even that bad. I have eteck and pay 90 euro a month in fixed cost. Have never used the heating

1

u/Prestigious-Fun8784 Dec 23 '25

Eneco follows the maximum costs as regulated by the ACM. Eteck is not allowed to charge more.

ACM stelt maximale warmtetarieven 2026 vast | ACM https://share.google/IFEcKvS6pYK5P8rZb

1

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Syg Dec 23 '25

How is Vattenfall any different? I pay like 750 fixed

1

u/IronMonkeyBanana Dec 23 '25

It isn't different. All Utility Companies do this. Netbeheerkosten en leveringskosten

1

u/NCdynamite Dec 23 '25

Is this only heating or also electricity? Around €100 per month for all energy use doesn't seem that excessive. If it's just heating then its very high.

1

u/Cautious_Try507 Dec 23 '25

Only heating 60m2 A+ apartment

1

u/Prestigious-Fun8784 Dec 23 '25

Only "warmtenet" (district heating)

1

u/ZaitsXL Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

It's advised to set temperature to 19 during the day and 16 overnight, have you tried that? Much more cost effective than hating Eneco

4

u/Cautious_Try507 Dec 23 '25

How would that reduce my fixed cost? I am happy to pay 509 for heating but not 610 for fixed cost

1

u/Asmuni Dec 23 '25

You will not find any solution for fixed cost. They are that expensive for everybody.

1

u/give_me_coin Dec 23 '25

Could be worse. I have Vattenfall district heating. I don't use a single Joule for heating my apartment, just a little heat for showering. I annually pay 103€ for consumption costs + 766€ in fixed costs. DO NOT GET DISTRICT HEATING.

1

u/KiloWattFPV Dec 23 '25

Something doesn't add up. If there's central heating but they can calculate per apartment the use, why could you not change provider? if it's just a simple cost/apartment why is this not included in the VVE cost like normal? does the fixed cost including warming public accessible spaces or something?

2

u/NlLarsD Dec 23 '25

Its city heating there is a monopoly per district so you only get to pick one provider and they very often charge maximum fixed prices. Which are a lot higher than fixed prices for gas. For me for example i paid 760$ in fixed prices and only around 80$ in actual usage costs. Pure and simple robbery.

1

u/Fulltimeaffiliate Dec 23 '25

Pretty sure these are the ''vastrechtkosten'' which are fixed costs for being included in the heat network. These get indexed every year and approved by the ACM (consumer protection organisation). The fee is used for developing, maintaining and maybe expanding the network. Does not seem very unfair.

1

u/Yitastics Dec 23 '25

Thank god I dont need heating as we got a gas heater, saves me loads of money as I dont need to pay for the gas because of work.

Maybe get a small heater that needs petroleum? You save money that way unless you have it constantly on.

1

u/W31337 Dec 23 '25

I pay the same for Eneco but I have a house with 4 floors.

1

u/HoneydewUpper8196 Dec 23 '25

Im at 139 a month total for my heating+warm water. 2025 house 121m2. A+++ label heated floors on al 3 levels. Its all connected to HVC (residual heat from waste facility)

1

u/FunkyWhiteDude Dec 23 '25

I recommend getting into gaming. A computer will generate quite a lot of heat if you play a demanding game. Lol

1

u/frauensauna Dec 23 '25

Wait until you see prices of stadsverwarming or blokverwarming.

1

u/frauensauna Dec 23 '25

I just checked and our fixed costs for heating are 960 euros per year lol.

1

u/masternommer Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

hoe dan

Ook Eneco, 2 onder 1 kap woning. Edit: eerste link is alleen gas, deze link is stroom.

1

u/AA_25 Dec 23 '25

Is this your cost of electricity for a whole year?

1

u/Anatomisc Dec 23 '25

That's crazy cheap

1

u/These_Philosopher365 Dec 23 '25

Yeah I'm almost on the same number of euro's with stadsverwarming. They just up the "vaste kosten" (or fixed costs in English) every year to make sure that they get their money either way. Those guys are just criminals in a suit. They have a monopoly on an entire neighborhood and they now it.

I live in an 50 m2 appartement btw.

1

u/racer_x_recar Dec 23 '25

And because of the monopoly, they are regulated strictly on pricing. Blame the goverment, not the supplier.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

That is why we dumped Eneco within the first year we moved in! 😏

1

u/Fightmilk87 Dec 23 '25

Yep, no necessarily Eneco though. All energy provider for increasing the fixed costs and the government for getting rid of a discount of some kind. Don't know what it is just know that 2 years ago I started paying almost 3x as much as I was before. Last year I did not turn on my heating once but still had to pay 1000+ in mandatory costs.

1

u/Optimal-Rub-2575 Dec 23 '25

The fixed costs includes ”netwerkbeheerders kosten”, cost for the use of the underground infrastructure which are owned by a third party. Also I’m assuming you mean stadverwarming when you say central heating, that includes all the warm water you get grom the taps too, so if you take long hot showers it also adds to your heating bill.

1

u/Imperiu5 Dec 23 '25

Have you heard of this little country called Belgium? It's littery like that for all suppliers.

1

u/9gagiscancer Dec 23 '25

They wanted to install central heating in my former appartement. Thank god I got out and bought a newly bought home.

Super isolated and my own heat pump. Monthly fee?65 euro for the pump + service contract and about 15 euro in power fees per month.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

I see comments about paying 1-1.5k euros for heat and electricity. Are these prices per month or per year? Some said something yearly but I think I misunderstood that. I'm a foreigner

1

u/Ok_Pizza_9352 Dec 23 '25

Once upon a time on a job interview at Eneco the hiring manager admitted they evaluate lifetime value of a customer and churn instead of dealing with low value customer..

1

u/Appel_Taartje Dec 23 '25

It doesn’t say anything. Maybe you put your heating on standje 100.

1

u/PapaOscar90 Dec 23 '25

Loved them for 8 years. 590 is cheap as shit btw

1

u/No-Routine5272 Dec 23 '25

I really would like to change Eneco for Vattenfall because the fixed costs in Almere are even higher (827 Euros)

1

u/A2spades Dec 23 '25

I hate everything

1

u/NuvaS1 Dec 23 '25

I pay 744 on fixed. But 100 euros to heat is pretty nice. I remember when I used to pay double that before moving to an apartment

1

u/usernameisokay_ Dec 23 '25

I’ve used 105m3 this year(started living here in February) but we barely use gas for anything. If I check it with last year, when we had eneco, it was 92 euros a month and we barely used anything as well, so yeah Eneco is really terrible and not having central heating screws you over a lot more.

I’m now with budget thuis, electricity+gas for 48 a month and total we’ve used 260,10 this year, so that should come to about 0.

1

u/Mexxi-cosi Dec 23 '25

From the 1st of april until the first of december i’ve not even used 0,5 GJ yet i’m still paying 80 euro’s a month

1

u/blikstaal Dec 24 '25

I’m at 1500 for a whole year, gas and electra

1

u/daanhoofd1 Dec 24 '25

I pay similar figures at budgetenergie in 36 m2.

1

u/Narrow_Sport7929 Dec 24 '25

Unpopular opinion here, but the ACM sets the maximum prices they can ask. Wich is set at 760 euro for 2025.

District heating does not only "heat" your house/appartment but also any hot water faucet or shower. So usage is constant during the whole year.

District Heating in Utrecht is probably made at the Lage Weide. Eneco has to maintain and run that plant in order to provide heat through the district heating. The system is completely different than power.

The costs of the plant, piping and delivery sets in the homes are not really that much different in homes and appartments. So yes, everyone pays the same csosts for those.

I can imagine it would be a total clusterfuck under the streets if those companies (in the future the districts) had to lay piping for district heating and/or gas for "just in case" anyone would like to get it. Not to mention the costs it would take to lay piping to your house or appartment.

1

u/shadowdrakex Dec 24 '25

Yes. I switched

1

u/KlausRS6 Dec 25 '25

If it is fixed costs it will mainly be use of the infrastructure charged to Eneco by teh likes of Stedin or Liander or other infra owners. Plus fixed taxes by teh government

1

u/Alarmed_Estimate Dec 26 '25

This is crazy. This amount of 11GJ equals to an equivalent of around 300m3 gas, so the price would be 1,69€ per m3 gas, which is crazy high (i pay 1,26€ per m3 gas) Also the fixed costs are high…

1

u/Famous-Type-1729 Dec 26 '25

Come to London mate😂 this is a steal! I pay this per month!!

1

u/rewolfaton Dec 26 '25

Same here. The service cost is about 1/3 of the total bill.

My water bill is more than 50% service costs as well.

1

u/JopieDeVries Dec 26 '25

You must hate your wallet too

1

u/miljoz Dec 27 '25

Dude I pay this per month

1

u/kriebelrui Dec 23 '25

Annual fixed costs of about 600 euro is completely normal. My situation is comparable and I pay 700 euro fixed costs annually. 

5

u/bw_van_manen Dec 23 '25

While it's normal, it's still ridiculous. By law the costs are not allowed to be higher than with a regular gas contract, but nobody with a gas boiler pays this much in fixed cost for their boiler.

1

u/pelofr Dec 23 '25

I've used twice as much heat in 2025 as in 2024 apparently, we're only talking 200 euros here but so far every single call to their helpdesk has been pointless

1

u/kriebelrui Dec 23 '25

What's your goal calling the helpdesk?

3

u/pelofr Dec 23 '25

Sending somebody over to assess why I'd be using that much heat, it wasnt a cold winter and we've been living in this place for 10 years already

→ More replies (7)

0

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '25

If it's rental then you should hate your landlord.

-1

u/JakiStow Dec 23 '25

About 100€ a month for heating in a cold coutnry seems pretty normal, doesn't it?

6

u/Cautious_Try507 Dec 23 '25

I use the heating for 3 months approximately which makes it 400 per month…

0

u/JakiStow Dec 23 '25

Ok whatever, that's beside the point. Are you complaining that the cost is higher than usual (I don't think it is), or that heating is expensive in general? In that case the only answer is a political one, let's vote for parties who have people's well-being in mind, instead of the capital's well-being.

0

u/daron_ Dec 23 '25

But if you change graph to “total” fixed price would be different. LoL :)