It is still not clear if plans by climate minister Rob Jetten to phase out a tax break for solar panel owners will go ahead or not, following Tuesday’s debate in the senate.

GroenLinks-PvdA senators say they have not yet made up their minds and have told Jetten to come back with more information about how long it will take panel owners to recoup their investment.

Jetten wants to stop home owners with solar panels deducting the power they feed back into the grid from their energy bills. But many senators and consumer groups want the current system to continue, and argue that phasing it out will discourage people from placing panels on their roofs because it will take longer to earn back their investment.

A third of Dutch households have rooftop solar panels and around 25% generate more electricity than they use in a year. At the moment, households with solar panels can deduct the cost of the electricity they supply back to the grid during sunny spells from their electricity bills.

But that, the government says, is costing the treasury more than €400 million in lost energy taxes, a figure which increases as more households start their own rooftop solar energy farms.

Jetten will now report back to the senate and senators themselves will vote on the plan next week.