In the Netherlands, there is currently a scheme called the 'Salderingsregeling', where households with solar panels have the opportunity to offset the electricity they feed back into the grid against the electricity they consume. This means you only pay for the net consumption. However, from 2023, the salderingsregeling will be phased out and replaced by the ‘return feed-in subsidy’.

The return feed-in subsidy is a new scheme in which households receive compensation for the electricity they feed back into the grid. Unlike net metering, where you can offset the fed-back electricity against your own consumption, with the return feed-in subsidy, you receive a financial compensation per kilowatt-hour for the fed-back electricity. This compensation is determined based on the average market price and the average cost price of solar panels.

With the transition to the return feed-in subsidy, the compensation for fed-back electricity becomes more market-oriented. The aim is to maintain the incentive for solar energy while distributing the costs more fairly between households with and without solar panels.