The VVD's Gas Reconnection Plan Is a Servicekosten Trap for International Renters

VVD MP Jurgen Nobel wants the government to study reconnecting new Dutch homes to the natural gas grid. The argument: the all-electric mandate is overloading the electricity grid and slowing down housing construction. Build homes with gas connections again, and we can move faster.

It sounds pragmatic. The Netherlands is short hundreds of thousands of homes, and grid congestion in places like Amsterdam, Utrecht, and the Brainport region around Eindhoven is genuinely delaying projects. But the framing collapses the moment you ask who actually pays for a gas connection — and how that cost flows through the rental market.

Since 2018, Dutch law has banned gas connections in new-build homes. That policy was driven by the 2019 Climate Act's target of 49% emissions reduction by 2030, and by the painful reality of Groningen's gas-extraction earthquakes. Reversing it doesn't just mean more fossil fuel use. It means reintroducing a cost mechanism — fluctuating gas prices bundled into servicekosten — that landlords can pass directly to tenants.

If you're Dutch, you probably know the difference between kale huur (base rent) and servicekosten (service charges). If you're an international who arrived last month to start a job in Rotterdam or Delft, you likely don't.

Servicekosten cover communal services — cleaning, maintenance, caretakers — and very often utilities: gas, water, and electricity (GWL). Typical GWL costs run €75–200/month for a studio, €150–260/month for an apartment, and €200–350/month for larger households. On top of that, communal servicekosten add another €50–200/month.

Here's the problem. In many expat and student rentals, utilities are bundled into all-in contracts. Tenants can't choose their own energy provider, can't easily verify actual consumption, and often don't know they have the right to request historical usage data. The Dutch energy market is fully liberalized — but that freedom only exists if you hold your own contract. In a bundled setup, the landlord picks the provider, sets the advance payment, and handles the year-end settlement.

Gas prices are currently around €1.67/m³, with network fees rising 11% annually and projections showing gas costs climbing by roughly €400/year by 2030. Reintroducing gas into new builds hands landlords a volatile, upward-trending cost line that tenants — especially internationals — are poorly equipped to audit.

The mechanism is simple. A landlord builds a new rental with a gas connection. The tenant pays servicekosten that include GWL. The landlord sets an advance payment based on estimated usage. At year-end, the settlement either refunds the difference or asks for more.

But here's what actually happens in practice: landlords overestimate advance payments, under-refund at settlement, and cite gas price volatility as justification. With gas reintroduced into the housing stock, the volatility provides perfect cover. A landlord in Groningen or Den Haag can point to rising network fees and wholesale gas prices and say the increase is legitimate — even if the actual consumption doesn't match.

This isn't hypothetical. It's already a known pattern in the current rental market. The only reason it's somewhat contained is that new-build homes since 2018 don't have gas, so the exposure is limited to older stock. The VVD's proposal would expand that exposure to every new rental built going forward.

The Huurcommissie (Rent Tribunal) is the official channel for disputing servicekosten. You can challenge inflated charges, request a breakdown, and force a landlord to justify costs. The system works — if you know it exists, speak enough Dutch to navigate it, and have the patience for a formal procedure.

Many internationals don't. A recent arrival in Amsterdam who signed an all-in contract in English may not even realize their servicekosten are contestable. The rental listing on Pararius or Kamernet said €1,850/month “all-in” and they took it at face value. When the year-end settlement arrives with a charge instead of a refund, they don't know where to turn.

D66 and other coalition partners have already pushed back against the VVD's proposal, citing the coalition agreement's commitment to sustainable and affordable housing. But the political fight is happening at the macro level — climate targets, grid capacity, EU directives. Nobody in The Hague is talking about what this means for an expat in a 30m² studio in Utrecht who suddenly can't figure out why their servicekosten jumped €80/month.

Let's put numbers on it. A tenant in a new-build apartment in Rotterdam pays €180/month in GWL servicekosten. Gas prices rise as projected — €400/year increase by 2030, plus 11% annual network fee hikes. The landlord passes these through. Within two years, that same tenant is paying €240/month, maybe €260. Over a year, that's €700–900 extra.

Now add the opacity factor. The tenant doesn't have an individual energy contract. They can't comparison-shop on Gaslicht.com or switch to a cheaper provider. They can't see the meter readings. They get a single number on their monthly invoice and a settlement statement once a year that may or may not reflect reality.

Energy poverty already affects 7–9% of Dutch households — up to 700,000 homes. International tenants are overrepresented in the poorly insulated, all-in-contract segment of the rental market. The VVD's proposal doesn't just fail to help them. It actively creates a new channel for cost inflation in the exact housing stock they're most likely to occupy.

The climate case against gas reconnection is straightforward. The Groningen field is closed. More gas means more imports and more exposure to global price shocks. EU sustainability directives and the Dutch coalition agreement both prioritize decarbonization. Reversing course undermines all of it.

But climate arguments are abstract. A tenant in Eindhoven facing a €300 servicekosten bill next month is dealing with something concrete and urgent. The policy debate in The Hague treats renters as a footnote to the housing crisis. They're not a footnote — they're the ones who'll carry the cost.

The real fix isn't complicated. Invest in grid expansion. Enforce transparent utility billing — separate meters, individual contracts, mandatory consumption data sharing with tenants. Accelerate sustainable heating solutions like district heating networks. And if gas connections are reintroduced in any form, pair them with strict regulations on how those costs can be passed through to renters.

At House Hunter, we see the downstream effects of rental market opacity every day. Internationals who found a listing in 90 seconds but spent six months untangling a servicekosten dispute. The VVD's proposal would make that worse, not better — more gas in the housing stock means more cost lines that landlords control and tenants can't verify.

If you're renting in the Netherlands and your contract includes GWL, do two things right now: request your consumption data in writing, and check whether you can switch to an individual energy contract. The Huurcommissie is there if your landlord refuses. Use it.