Changes to the law

Alliander’s activities, and particularly those of Liander, are heavily regulated by legislation and regulations. Last year, laws and regulations were drafted to ensure that the statutory framework is suitable for the energy transition. We are continuously consulting with relevant stakeholders in order to contribute to this.  

Integrated Energy Act 

The new Energy Act was passed by the House of Representatives and approved by the Senate in 2024. The act is expected to come into force on 1 January 2026. Alliander endorses the objective of the Energy Act, which is to create an integrated and future-proof legislative framework for the energy system. The act will support the energy transition and contribute to better utilisation of the existing network. The subordinate national laws and regulations that will follow and their integration in the codes of the ACM are crucial for this and will ultimately determine how effective the act will be in practice. Among other things, Alliander wants to see provisions that allow customers to share their energy among themselves, as a first step toward a more decentralised energy system. We additionally want to include rules that will allow customers requiring a high-power connection to safely engineer their own connection. Further implementation of the Energy Act will take place through the Energy Decree (Order in Council) and Ministerial Regulations. Alliander will monitor developments in these laws and regulations in the 2025 financial year and determine the impact of any resulting obligations on Alliander's consolidated financial statements.

New legislation on district heating networks  

The Collective Heating Supply Act, submitted to the House of Representatives by the cabinet in June 2024, is intended to ensure a reliable, affordable and sustainable supply of heat. Its stipulations include that more than 50% of a heating company must be owned by public parties. Over the coming period, the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth will specify the underlying regulations, to ensure that network companies can actually make a valuable contribution to the heat transition. For society and for Alliander, it is crucial that it be adopted as soon as possible to reverse the delay in the roll-out of district heating networks. Alliander is ready to help municipalities and provinces build and complete (public) heating networks.

Heating Transition (Municipal Instruments) Act 

The Heating Transition (Municipal Instruments) Bill was passed by the House of Representatives in 2024 and approved by the Senate. This act gives municipalities the authority to designate specific districts where a sustainable energy supply will be introduced to replace natural gas (the authority to designate). This implies that the network operator’s existing natural gas transmission obligation and authority in that particular residential district will expire after a certain date. The act makes an affordable district-oriented approach possible with room for a methodical participation process with the residents, where districts collectively switch to a heat supply that differs from natural gas. 

Phased reduction of statutory feed-in rate 

In 2023, the House of Representatives approved the legislative proposal for reducing the statutory feed-in rate. The Senate rejected the proposal on 13 February 2024. In December 2024, the Senate reassessed its position and decided that the balancing scheme would be abolished in January 2027. Alliander, along with the other network operators, has expressed support for the proposal. Owners of solar panels should be encouraged to use the electricity they generate immediately in their own homes as much as possible to reduce the load on the power grid.  

Decarbonisation package   

The European Decarbonisation Package was adopted in 2024. This legislative package contains rules about the correct functioning of the European internal market for natural gas, renewable and low-carbon gases and hydrogen. Apart from including key rules to give renewable gases (green gas) more space in the existing natural gas network, these regulations introduce the market organisation for hydrogen transmission. This paves the way for a future regulated role for Alliander in the field of hydrogen distribution. The Ministry of Climate and Green Growth has started implementation of the directive into Dutch legislation, to be completed by August 2026 at the latest. Hydrogen is a crucial element of the future energy system and necessary to support industry in becoming more sustainable. Development of the hydrogen market will only start to pick up speed if the market has certainty and clarity. Precisely because of the integrated nature of the energy system, Alliander advocates organising the hydrogen distribution market in a similar way to the rest of the energy system: with public network operators who scrutinise the entire energy system from their overarching perspective. In this role, network operators can then schedule infrastructure construction.

Revised market design for the European electricity market 

In 2024, the revised market design for the European electricity market was adopted. The main goal of this reform is to better protect consumers against strongly fluctuating short-term energy prices and energy disconnection, as well as to promote the deployment of renewable energy. In addition, the revision is intended to promote smooth operation of the market mechanism and full usage of the renewable electricity produced, through provisions for storage and demand response. The changes are largely in line with the concerns identified by Alliander. However, European legislation still closely follows the principle that grid users are able to use the network at any time of day, anywhere and without limitation ('non-discrimination', 'freedom of dispatch', 'freedom to connect'). The end result of this is inefficient use of the power grid.

Reduction of methane emissions 

In 2024, the Regulation on the reduction of methane emissions in the energy sector was adopted by the European Commission. The Regulation also covers methane emissions from gas distribution and tightens the requirements regarding gas leak detection and repair. Alliander has been preparing for new leak detection methods since last year, for example, with a leak detection vehicle and a robot dog.

Flexibility and tariffs 

Within the scope of the National Network Congestion Action Programme (Landelijk Actieprogramma Netcongestie, LAN), Liander is working on various initiatives to use the available network capacity as efficiently as possible at times when more transmission capacity is available. This must be supported by legislation and regulations. Code amendment decisions were published in 2024 that further shape the application of congestion management, allow alternative transmission rights to be offered and ensure that customers can no longer claim the right to contracted but unused transmission capacity. In addition, the joint network operators have submitted a proposal to the ACM that would allow groups of business consumers to collectively relieve the load on the electricity grid through a group transmission agreement. Finally, work is being done to adjust the tariff structures for households and business consumers, and implement grid-friendly charging for electric vehicles. 

Social prioritisation 

As of 1 October 2024, customers active in specific social frameworks, such as hospitals or schools, can be given priority when allocating transmission capacity. The ACM took this decision on 18 April 2024. Publication of this code decision allows Liander to apply a prioritisation system in an area of high grid congestion to give priority to important social functions over other customer requests when allocating capacity that has become available. This means that we no longer always have to process requests for a connection or additional capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. Liander already had some prior experience in prioritising when dealing with distressing and urgent cases. The Social Prioritisation code decision came into effect on 1 October. Customers with a new transmission request can apply for social prioritisation via Liander.nl. To prepare customers for this in advance, we sent a letter to all customers on the waiting list with information on how to apply after 1 October. A number of market participants have lodged an appeal opposing this code amendment with the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (CBb).

Changes to connection time rules 

The ACM changed the Electricity Network Code in 2023 and added a connection lead time for small consumers. The network operators have submitted a joint appeal because the changes are not in line with the exponentially increasing demand for network capacity and the restrictions caused by limited labour capacity and space. The CBb ruled in October 2024 that the ACM should not have set the lead times in this way. The ACM should have more clearly explained how it considered the energy transition and the scarcity of technical staff when setting the fixed connection lead times. In addition, the network operators have been working with parties in the chain to amend the connection lead times for business customers in the Electricity Network Code. This has resulted in new agreements that require customers to allow for connection lead times of between 26 weeks to a year or more. These agreements come into effect on 1 January 2025.