Update: 29 October

On a questions-and-answers page for registration providers (opens in a new tab), the NEa writes that no more may be registered than was taken from the grid on balance. Net means what you took from the grid minus what you fed back, over the whole year.

The NEa’s example: a household takes 2,500 kWh from the grid in a year, generates 3,000 kWh with solar panels and feeds 500 kWh of that back. The car charges 3,000 kWh. Then 2,500 − 500 = 2,000 kWh can be registered. So a third of the charging does not count.

Until then, according to Joulo (opens in a new tab), government texts said that with solar panels all charging counts: every kWh the MID meter in your charge point measured.

The percentage stays the same. Private individuals always register at the grid-average share of renewable electricity, solar panels or not. For 2026 that is 50.5%. Your registration provider does now also have to track your net grid use, for example with the meter readings on 1 January and 31 December.

• Without solar panels you notice nothing. You then always take more from the grid than your car charges.
• With solar panels it depends on how much you feed back. If your net grid use over the year is larger than what your car charges, everything still counts.
• If you feed back as much as you take over the year, you can register nothing.
• When you charge makes no difference: the cap only looks at the year’s total. If you charge on your own solar power during the day, what you take and what you feed back both drop by the same amount.
• A home battery does not help, according to Joulo: solar power you store was never taken from the grid.

Joulo estimates (opens in a new tab) that the cap affects more than 17,000 households in 2026: together about 30 million kWh and almost €4 million in expected ERE income. That is an estimate based on Joulo’s own customers, and Joulo is itself a registration provider.

Not quite. The cap is in the NEa’s explanation, but EV Update (opens in a new tab) points out that article 9 of the Regeling energie vervoer bases the registered volume on the charge point’s measurement and mentions no annual cap. The legal basis for the cap is not yet clear.

Why the NEa is doing this is not known either: the NEa gives no reason. EV Update (opens in a new tab) suggests two possibilities: preventing fraud, or preventing more grid electricity from being registered than the annual balance shows. The NEa itself does not mention fraud prevention. RED III may play a part, but according to EV Update it does not explain why the annual net grid use in particular is the limit.

According to Joulo (opens in a new tab), the Wet milieubeheer, the Besluit energie vervoer, the Regeling energie vervoer and RED III all count the kWh that go into the car, with no deduction for feed-in. Joulo assumes a mistake and has asked the NEa and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management for clarification. On 31 October Joulo was still waiting for an answer.

Until then, Joulo (opens in a new tab) registers a charging session only while that year’s total stays below your net grid use so far. Sessions above it are held until your net grid use grows again. If the explanation is dropped, Joulo registers everything the meter measured. Customers don’t need to do anything for this.

Joulo has not yet registered anything for home chargers: that only becomes possible with the next version of the register. So no earlier registrations need correcting. The cap does apply to the whole calendar year 2026, including charging since January.

1. Find the annual statement from your energy supplier or your smart meter.
2. Subtract what you fed back from what you took. That is your net grid use.
3. Compare that with what your car charged at home that year. The lower number counts.
4. Do you end up at zero or less? Then registering will probably earn you nothing.

Steps after De Groene Nerds (opens in a new tab).