VSK installation fair is the nine-month fair for those who are excited about economical charging stations, smart ventilation boxes and climate-neutral toilet bowls. It therefore seemed completely logical that Minister Hugo de Jonge chose this as the backdrop for the announcement of his latest love baby: the mandatory hybrid heat pump in 2026†
Still, it’s weird. It’s like announcing the mandatory wearing of thermal underwear in HEMA.
The minister stood side by side with CDA party colleague Doekle Terpstra, chairman of the installation industry association, and heat pump apostle from the very beginning.
Any other minister so prone to lobbyism would like to cover it up at least a little bit. He would try to maintain the appearance of an independent policy choice, wise and sovereign.
But Hugo de Jonge is not every other minister.
His policy announcements are something like commercials, starring himself as the star actor, fresh out of the grime. Seasoned lobbyist administrators know how to play that trait flawlessly and so forcefully maneuver themselves into the role of begetter of a new ministerial love baby. They are very proud to decorate a gender reveal party at the Jaarbeurs.
Still, it’s weird. Removing the gap between a commercial and the issuance of controversial measures is the surest way to make your policy suspicious.
I have nothing against hybrid heat pumps. Some of my best friends have one. But this one is now up and running. I know from those friends, for example, that such a device only makes sense in a well-insulated house. That first step should be given much more emphasis. A National Isolation Program appears to have been launched, but its solemn launch has apparently taken place in silence.
De Jonge did present a different plan this week, to curb rents. At that moment I was walking out of the Rotterdam Markthal. BNNVARA had set up a ‘protest campsite’ on the square. slogan: ‘The rent is too expensive’† Young passers-by were approached to calculate on the spot whether their landlord was billing according to the points system. Rotterdam tenants pay an average of 169 euros too much, according to the broadcaster. Monthly!
If enforcement in rooms and social rented housing is already problematic, this new points system in the free sector will have to be monitored extra closely. But do you know what also helps poorer tenants? Require landlords and housing associations to insulate their homes. Only glass? chinks? Deferred maintenance. Make sure it is repaired before winter, otherwise you will be sent the energy bill.
Only when that insulation is in order and the worst energy poverty is dampened can you look at follow-up steps such as heat pumps, solar boilers and all that other beautiful stuff from the showcases of Doekle Terpstra.
Christian Weijts writes a column every Friday in this place.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of May 20, 2022