Coalition parties VVD and CDA want stricter rules for energy suppliers. For example, they want energy companies to enter into long-term contracts again and no longer offer new customers a welcome bonus. MPs Henri Bontenbal (CDA) and Silvio Erkens (VVD) write this in a pamphlet that their parties will present to energy minister Rob Jetten (D66) on Tuesday. The document contains five rules and advice with which MPs want to get a better grip on rising energy prices, various media report, including: The Telegraph and NOS.
Bontenbal and Erkens want energy companies to undergo an annual test to see whether they can still supply enough energy and whether their administration is in order. If a supplier does go bankrupt, the MPs believe that customers should get their advance back. They also write that in that case a competitor must be able to make an offer on the customer base. “The existing conditions and rates will be maintained for the customers. The new supplier can also offer a negative amount in the bid, if it turns out that taking over the customer base costs money,” according to Bontenbal and Erkens.
In addition, customers must be offered long-term contracts of, for example, two or three years with a fixed rate. This gives households more security and they are better protected against fluctuating energy prices. Minister Jetten said in an interview with NRC to already be in talks about the contracts with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets.
According to the CDA and VVD pamphlet, the welcome bonus for new customers should come in a different form: discounts for loyal customers. The government must ensure ‘that there is always enough affordable energy’, say Bontenbal and Erkens.
Read the double interview with Rob Jetten and Fatih Birol here: ‘The biggest fear is that in a cold winter it will be every man for himself’