What can I do about an incorrect or unaffordable energy bill?
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Detailed explanation, checklist and sources
Compare readings, rates and advance payments first. Send a specific written complaint to the supplier named in your contract. If you cannot pay, also request a payment plan: a billing complaint alone does not solve affordability.
On this page
- Check the statement
- Dispute the specific error
- Check how the contract was made
- Calculate switching costs first
- Prevent disconnection over arrears
- Check bankruptcy and final readings
- Distinguish landlord and heat network
- Old contract: compare the historical table
- May I lower my monthly payment myself?
- Documents to prepare
- Sources
1. Check the statement
Compare opening and closing readings, estimates versus actual readings, tariff periods, fixed charges and payments. An advance is not a fixed final price. Lower advances can create a later balance: request changes based on expected use and rates. Annual statements are yearly; after switching or moving, the final statement is due within six weeks. These are different deadlines.
2. Dispute the specific error
Identify invoice, disputed item, amount, calculation and evidence. Request correction, repayment and confirmation of treatment during the complaint. ACM says the supplier must decide a written invoice complaint within eight weeks and the disputed amount need not be paid meanwhile. Do not automatically stop all other payments. If unresolved, check dispute-committee membership, conditions and deadlines or obtain advice about court.
3. Check how the contract was made
Telephone sales often require written acceptance; request the contract, consent and, where needed, the full sales recording. Online or telephone contracting generally has fourteen days' withdrawal, with specific rules for missing information and supply expressly requested early. Misleading or aggressive sales can justify annulment, not merely ordinary cancellation. Preserve concrete false promises or pressure and ensure supply continues; do not ignore a court summons if annulment is disputed.
4. Calculate switching costs first
Notice is at most one month. Before switching, request an explained exit charge: early termination of a fixed contract can involve the supplier's actual loss based on remaining consumption and tariff difference. Variable or dynamic contracts do not have this exit charge. Contracts predating 1 June 2023 use an older regime; have the date and historic terms checked separately. Current rules can permit recovery of a cash welcome bonus within six months, not a physical gift; bonuses paid too late are excluded. Charges must appear no later than the final bill. Coordinate end and start dates, including combined gas/electricity contracts.
5. Prevent disconnection over arrears
Respond to reminders and request an affordable plan. The supplier must follow disconnection protections; payment-plan discussions, a written invoice complaint and timely debt-assistance registration can prevent disconnection. Send registration evidence immediately. Serious health risk requires a statement from a doctor other than your own to supplier and network operator. Keep agreements: silence, fraud or non-compliance can still lead to disconnection. Switching does not erase old debts and a deposit may be required.
6. Check bankruptcy and final readings
If an energy supplier fails in 2026, supply to small connections remains protected. Contract transfers have a maximum ten-working-day window after the withdrawal decision; residual allocation follows by working day eleven if needed. A genuine contract transfer includes existing terms and rights to repayment of advances. Residual allocation creates emergency supply for at most six months or until your own new contract starts; you may then switch without a termination fee. The switching block ends on transfer or the start of emergency supply, not automatically after twenty working days. Keep meter photographs and notices. Ask who must settle your credit; claims not transferred go to the insolvency administrator. Do not reverse payments indiscriminately.
7. Distinguish landlord and heat network
If paying through a landlord, request annual itemisation, allocation and underlying records; the previous calendar year's statement should be available by 1 July. A fixed monthly amount may be an advance: have all-inclusive or unusual arrangements assessed and use landlord, competent Huurcommissie or court routes. District or communal heating generally offers no free supplier choice. ACM price caps apply only within their scope; landlord or owners' association supply follows different rules. Identify the supplier before disputing a heat bill.
8. Old contract: compare the historical table
For consumer contracts concluded before 1 June 2023, ACM used a per-product ceiling: less than 1½ years remaining €50; 1½–2 years €75; 2–2½ years €100; more than 2½ years €125. An originally one-year contract had a €50 maximum. Ending both gas and electricity could result in both charges. This is the historical table, not an automatic bill. Since 2026 the Energiewet and Energieregeling apply and the old policy rules have expired. That alone does not turn an agreed low contractual fee into a higher loss-based charge. For an old contract still running, request the agreed clause, applicable rules and itemised calculation; have any increase reviewed.
Historische ACM-richtsnoeren — artikel 4 ↗
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May I lower my monthly payment myself?
First request a reasoned adjustment. Lower advances do not make energy cheaper: unchanged use and rates create a later bill. Dispute errors in writing and separately arrange help if payment is unaffordable.
Documents to prepare
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- Contract, start date and supplier
- Meter readings and use
- Tariff periods and payments
- Invoice, error and calculation
- Complaint, receipt and payment arrangements
- Switching, debt help or landlord route
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ACM — energierekening ↗ACM — opzegvergoeding en opzegtermijn ↗ACM — energiecontract vernietigen ↗ACM — betalingsachterstand ↗ACM — energiebedrijf failliet ↗Rijksoverheid — servicekosten en nutsvoorzieningen ↗ACM — maximale warmtetarieven ↗Het Juridisch Loket — energierekening ↗Energiebesluit — artikelen 2.12–2.15 ↗Toelichting 2026 — overname voorschotten en noodlevering ↗Historische ACM-richtsnoeren — artikel 4 ↗Energieregeling — actuele regels ↗ACM — intrekking oude beleidsregels 2026 ↗Sources may be in Dutch. General information about Dutch law, not individual legal advice.