The Dutch competition watchdog has said that grid fees charged by large energy suppliers to owners of photovoltaic systems are legal. Depending on the size of the system, solar users currently pay between €100 ($107) and €697.

The Dutch Consumer and Markets Authority (ACM) has investigated the grid fees currently charged to owners of residential PV systems by four energy suppliers - Budget Energie, Vattenfall, Eneco and Engie - and concluded that the fees are legal.

The agency said the "terugleverkosten" fees are primarily based on higher procurement costs, higher imbalance costs, and net metering costs that energy providers must deal with when their customers own and operate rooftop PV systems.

The agency added that the fees are not a source of profit because the money collected makes up for the lower tariffs paid to consumers who do not own photovoltaic equipment.

The competition watchdog also said that PV system owners currently have to deal with complex contracts offered by energy suppliers, which makes it difficult to compare and select the best options.

"The Dutch Consumer and Markets Authority calls on suppliers and energy comparators to make efforts to improve the comparability of contracts," the agency said in a statement.

Dutch online platform www.keuze.nl allows consumers to compare different types of commercial offers, and grid fees can range from 100 euros ($107.81) to 697 euros, depending on the size of the system.

According to the "Solar Energy Trends in the Netherlands 2023" study recently released by the Netherlands New Energy (DNE) Research consultancy, the Dutch solar market will add 4.82 GW of PV installed capacity in 2023. About 2.5GW of new capacity installed last year came from residential installation systems, up from 2.2GW a year earlier.