Make a VAT return, take photos of insulation work, submit the application at the right time. Anyone who wants a subsidy for sustainability has to jump through a lot of hoops. And that is quite difficult for many people.
The government is making a lot of money available to start making homes more sustainable. So far, home owners have received 75 million euros in subsidy this year and more than 100 million euros are still available for the rest of 2022. The government provides a subsidy of approximately 30 percent for each heat pump. Other measures, such as insulation of the roof or walls, yield less subsidy, but in combination with such a heat pump, the allowance is also 30 percent. Homeowners who have solar panels installed can get the 21 percent VAT back from the tax authorities. On an investment of 5,400 euros for ten solar panels, that is 937 euros. In addition, there is a patchwork of municipal regulations.
For homeowners who want to work with sustainability, it is a challenge to find their way in this and actually obtain subsidies, sees Puk van Meegeren of ‘sustainability guide’ Milieu Centraal. “It’s not like you tick one box and you’re done. You have to show that you meet the conditions.”
An example of this is subsidy on insulation. In order to receive this compensation, people have to submit photos of the insulation being installed for a government subsidy. “It is the intention that installation companies provide the customer with the necessary information, but they must complete the form themselves, go through all the steps and upload photos. That requires people to have digital skills.”
Wealthy, highly educated citizen
Wigger Verschoor van Winst also sees this from your home, a company that helps municipalities that want to promote sustainability among their citizens. According to him, the wealthy, higher educated citizen knows how to find their way to subsidies, but this does not apply to everyone – lower educated with little money, for example. “While they need the subsidy to be able to invest in the reduction of their energy bill at all. Now that energy prices are rising, this is of course even more important.”
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Olaf Simonse is researching at Leiden University why people do not take advantage of government regulations to which they are entitled. He thinks this could be due to the complexity of the VAT scheme, for example. “I had my own solar panels installed. In order to get your VAT back, you have to file a declaration with the tax authorities as an entrepreneur – a private individual cannot reclaim VAT. If people find that too complicated, they drop out.”
The Allowances affair made it clear that an error when applying for subsidies or allowances can have major consequences. Many people therefore want to know exactly whether they are entitled to a subsidy. Simonse suspects that this doubt also plays a role in the application for sustainability subsidies. “If people have doubts about it, they don’t do it. I think there is a parallel, and that is why many people will ignore sustainability.”
Long waiting times
Another uncertain factor with sustainability subsidies is that they sometimes stop suddenly because the pot is empty. Now that waiting times at installers are increasing considerably, it may happen that a homeowner who had applied for and received a subsidy from the municipality in advance, still sees that money pass by. Due to a lack of materials and high demand, lead times for hybrid heat pumps, for example, are up to twelve months, says Verschoor.
“If a subsidy has been promised, the sustainability improvement usually has to be carried out within twelve months. Many people are concerned whether that will work – and if not, what will happen,” says Verschoor.
One way to reduce that concern is to sign the offer subject to the subsidy. Some companies will not agree to this, however, now that they have the choice of customers.
Van Meegeren of Milieu Centraal believes that the companies that implement sustainability have an important task; they can guide homeowners through all the relevant schemes and subsidies. He sees that this already works well with the VAT scheme for solar panels. “It has been around for a long time and there is real help from the market. Every company now offers the service to reclaim the VAT.”
Verschoor thinks that this is also a task for the government. “If we really want to help, it’s not enough for the government to make grants available and let them know they’re there. Offering subsidies also includes active guidance for people who desperately need it and for whom it is less easy to find their own way.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of June 28, 2022