Passing on energy costs to tenants

01All-in rent or service charges: what is the difference?

There are two ways to include energy in a rent.

All-in rent. One amount per month, without a breakdown. The Dutch government describes it like this: the landlord has not split the basic rent and the service charges. The tenant can ask the landlord to split the all-in rent.
Basic rent plus service charges. If the contract lists separate amounts for rent and service charges, the rent is the basic rent. Gas, water and electricity only count as service charges if the tenant gets them through the landlord. If the tenant pays the energy company directly, the service charge rules do not apply to those costs.

In room rentals and worker housing, residents almost always get their energy through the landlord. With a fixed advance and an annual settlement, both sides know what is being paid. With an all-in price, you as the landlord carry the risk of high prices and high use.

02What does Dutch law say about service charges today?

A few basic rules that already apply:

Cost-covering only. According to the brochure on the Good Landlordship Act (Wet goed verhuurderschap), service charges may only cover costs. Making a profit on energy is not the intention.
An annual statement. Every year you give the tenant an overview of the service charges. According to the Dutch government, the tenant must receive it by 1 July at the latest. It shows whether he paid too much or too little.
Rent Tribunal. If the tenant disagrees with the statement or does not receive one, he can go to the municipality's reporting point or to the Huurcommissie, the Dutch Rent Tribunal. For tenancy agreements from 1 July 2024, the Huurcommissie can review service charges in all sectors.
A written contract. Tenancy agreements from 1 July 2023 must be in writing. A verbal agreement is not enough.

This article is not legal advice. Every situation is different. Consult a lawyer or the Juridisch Loket (Dutch legal aid desk) before you change your contracts.

03What changes on 1 January 2027?

From 1 January 2027 the Act on modernising service charges (Wet modernisering servicekosten) applies. Important: the new rules only apply to tenancy agreements signed from that date. Existing contracts stay under the old arrangements, unless tenant and landlord choose the new rules together.

Eight types of service charges. Landlords may pass on at most eight types, including ‘heat, hot water and cooling’ and ‘gas, water and electricity’. Anything outside that list is no longer a service charge. It must be expressly agreed when the contract is signed.
Fixed costs shared equally. Fixed costs of gas, water and electricity are divided equally over the dwellings, not by floor area. For heat, division by floor area is allowed if that fits better.
Use according to the meter. Variable costs are divided on the basis of measured use per dwelling. If there are no meters, or they do not work, another key may be used, provided the landlord makes it transparent.
No statement, then low standard amounts. If the annual statement or the required specification form is missing, the Huurcommissie sets the costs using low standard amounts. For a self-contained dwelling these are 400 m³ of gas, 25 m³ of water and 800 kWh of electricity per year.

For new contracts it is therefore sensible to think now about how you will measure or divide use per room, and to put that in writing.

See which room uses the power

eyesonrooms measures temperature per room and reports a likely plug-in heater, so you can have the conversation based on facts.

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04May a staffing agency deduct energy from wages?

For migrant workers, housing is often arranged through the employer. Two rules matter here.

Tenancy separate from employment. For agreements from 1 July 2023, the tenancy agreement must be separate from the employment contract. The tenant must receive the information about the tenancy in a language he understands.

Deduction from the minimum wage. According to the Dutch government, an employer may deduct at most 25 per cent of the gross minimum wage for housing. The conditions include:

the accommodation meets the quality requirements in the collective labour agreement (cao), and the landlord is certified for them (or it is a housing association home);
the worker gives a written authorisation (volmacht) with his name, the employer's name, the amount, and what the amount is for: rent, service charges and energy costs for utilities with an individual meter.

The government had planned to phase out this deduction from 1 January 2026, but decided in October 2025 that the phase-out would not go ahead. Always check the current rules and your cao. Whether and how energy without an individual meter may be part of the deduction is a question for a lawyer.

05How do you keep it fair when someone uses a heater?

A 2 kW plug-in heater running four hours a day uses 8 kWh a day. At the average electricity price for September 2026 (CBS, provisional: supply tariff €0.1487 plus energy tax €0.1109 per kWh, including VAT) that is just over €2 a day. If electricity is shared equally among six residents, five people pay for one person's heater. That feels unfair, and it gives the heater user no reason at all to stop.

What you can do:

Remove the reason. A heater is often a sign that the room is too cold. Fix the heating first. See our article on the cost of a plug-in heater.
Put it in the house rules. Whether heaters are allowed, and under what conditions, belongs in the contract or the house rules the resident receives at the start. Also mind safety: several heaters on one circuit can overload it.
Measure per room. A sub-meter per room gives measured use, and that is the division the new law takes as its starting point. Without a meter, temperature measurements per room at least show where a heater is, so you can talk to the resident.
Charging extra? Whether you can make a heater user pay more depends on the contract and the service charge rules. Do not do this on your own: consult a lawyer.

06What are the options for sub-metering?

For electricity, a sub-meter per room is the simplest form. An electrician installs it in the meter cupboard, on the room's circuit. This only works if each room has its own circuit; otherwise the installation has to be changed first. Choose a meter suitable for billing and have it installed by a qualified electrician.

Heating is harder. With a boiler and radiators in every room, there are heat cost allocators that are fixed to the radiator. They give a division of use, not an exact measurement. In a small house the question is whether the cost of fitting and reading them outweighs the fairness they bring.

A middle way: measure temperature per room and otherwise share equally. You will not know exactly how many kWh someone uses, but you will see which room is consistently warmer than the central heating allows. eyesonrooms measures temperature and humidity per room and reports a likely plug-in heater, with a PDF report per room that you can use in the conversation.

07How do you explain it to residents in their own language?

Many disputes about energy come from a lack of clarity. The law already requires migrant workers to receive information about their tenancy in a language they understand. A few tips:

One A4 page per house with three points: what is in the rent, what the energy advance is, and when the settlement comes.
Use amounts, not percentages. ‘A 2 kW heater running for 4 hours costs about €2 a day’ is clearer than a price per kWh.
Translate and have it checked. Have the text translated into the languages spoken in your houses, for example Polish, Romanian or Hungarian, and ask a native speaker to read it. Machine translation alone is risky for agreements about money.
Explain why. Residents accept rules more easily when they know the heating works and a cold room is fixed quickly.
Offer a way to report. Anyone who is cold should be able to report it without buying a heater. A QR code in the house with a reporting form in their own language makes this easy.

08A simple checklist

Topic	What you arrange
Contract	In writing, separate from the employment contract, with basic rent and service charges listed separately
Advance	Based on last year's use and current prices
Division	Fixed costs shared equally; use by meter or with a key you can explain
Statement	Every year, by 1 July, with the calculation attached
House rules	Agreements on heaters and safety, in the resident's language
Monitoring	Temperature per room, so you spot cold rooms and heaters in time

Not legal advice. Consult a lawyer before you change contracts or deductions.

09Frequently asked questions

When must I send the annual service charge statement?

According to the Dutch government, the tenant must receive the overview of the previous calendar year by 1 July at the latest.

May I make a profit on the energy I pass on?

No. Service charges may only cover costs. You pass on the actual costs.

Do the new service charge rules apply to my existing contracts?

No. The rules of 1 January 2027 apply to new contracts. Existing contracts stay under the old rules, unless you agree otherwise with the tenant.

Can a resident have the all-in rent split?

Yes, the tenant can ask the landlord to split the all-in rent into basic rent and service charges. If you disagree, the Huurcommissie can help.

Passing on energy costs to tenants of rooms