The demand for solar panels is collapsing amid confusion over payments for feeding energy back into the grid and the next cabinet’s plans.

According to lobby group Techniek Nederland, companies specialising in installing solar panels have “little or nothing” to do at the moment, because of the uncertainty surrounding costs.

The number of new contracts has collapsed by 95% over the past 10 months when the concerns first surfaced, the organisation told RTL Nieuws. The Netherlands has some 3,000 firms that focus purely on solar panels and, Techniek Nederland says, a wave of bankruptcies is looming.

This February, senate voted against plans to end the current system that allows panel owners to deduct the electricity they supply back into the grid from their own bills. But that, in itself, did not lead to a rise in orders.

That, the sector says, is down to continuing uncertainty facing panel owners, now nearly all energy firms have introduced fees for feeding back power, which they say is needed to cover their costs. The fees depend on a variety of factors but can run to tens of euros a month.

A third of Dutch households have rooftop solar panels and around 25% generate more electricity than they use in a year.

Then, last month, the new government announced it would scrap the system allowing panel owners to deduct their excess electricity from their bills in 2027 after all. It was a surprise move and one which has only added to the confusion.

“Consumer confidence has completely collapsed,” Techniek Nederland director Doekle Terpstra said in a letter to outgoing energy minister Rob Jetten.

On Tuesday evening, the four parties forming the new right-wing government voted against plans to stop energy firms charging solar panel owners for the cost of sending their excess energy to the grid – despite appearing to support the idea last month.  

MPs did, however, back an amendment that will stop energy firms from charging the fees once panel owners can no longer credit their excess electricity to their energy bills in 2027.