As an installer, you become an energy partner by staying with the customer after handover, with maintenance, monitoring and advice under a service contract. That calls for different processes from one-off projects, such as recurring invoices, scheduled maintenance visits and fault alerts that turn into work orders. In the Netherlands, one important trigger is the end of the netting scheme on 1 January 2027.
Why do your customers want more than solar panels?
Because from 2027 their own electricity pays off mainly when they use it themselves. According to the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Dutch netting scheme (salderingsregeling) ends on 1 January 2027. Offsetting the electricity households and small businesses feed back against what they use applies until 31 December 2026.
From 1 January 2027, the energy supplier pays compensation for electricity fed back to the grid. Until 2030, the Dutch government requires it to be at least 50% of the bare supply tariff, the price of electricity excluding taxes. Suppliers often charge feed-in costs as well. Electricity the customer uses directly carries no taxes and no supplier costs.
That changes the conversation with the customer. How many panels fit on the roof matters less than how they store and use their own power. Home batteries, heat pumps, EV charge points and smart consumption come into view. Whoever supplies and maintains that combination stays involved with the same customer for years.
How far has the market for new solar panels fallen?
Sharply, especially on homes. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the number of solar installations on Dutch homes grew by almost 474,000 in 2023. In 2025 it grew by almost 125,000, on provisional data. Large rooftop systems above 15 kilowatt peak added about half as much capacity in 2025 as in 2024.
The Nationaal Solar Trendrapport 2025 by Dutch New Energy Research and Solar365 explains the fall on homes in 2024 with three causes. It names the announced end of the netting scheme, more stable energy prices and a saturated market.
Storage is growing. In its Nationaal Storage & Solar Trendrapport 2025, Dutch New Energy Research expected 87,600 new home batteries that year. Together they account for 860 megawatt hours, 260% more than in 2024.
Where is the work when fewer panels are sold?
In the installations already on the roofs. According to CBS, there were more than three million solar installations on Dutch homes at the end of 2025. More than 1.6 million of them were added between 2020 and 2023.
According to the Dutch advice centre Kenniscentrum Duurzaam Leven (formerly Milieu Centraal), an inverter lasts 12 years on average and panels about 25 years. The inverters from those four years therefore reach their average lifetime between 2032 and 2035. The panels can carry on for more than ten years after that.
The centre advises owners to check their yield regularly and to have panels and inverter inspected if it drops by more than 10%. It puts a new inverter for a set of eight panels at around €900. You can turn that into a contract:
- An annual yield check, with a visit as soon as yield drops by more than 10%.
- Inverter replacement when it fails or degrades, at a price agreed in advance.
- Remote monitoring, so a fault becomes a work order before the customer calls.
What changes in your company when you become an energy partner?
Your revenue shifts from one-off projects to agreements that run for years. That changes your operations in five ways:
- Service contracts with a fixed price per month or quarter, instead of a single invoice at handover.
- Maintenance visits that recur on a schedule for each installation.
- Alerts from inverter or battery monitoring that must become a work order, with the right technician and parts.
- Technicians with broader skills. In the Netherlands, work on the refrigerant (F-gas) circuit of a heat pump requires a BRL 100 certificate for your company. Each technician needs a BRL 200 certificate. The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) checks compliance.
- Data for each installation, such as the inverter and battery type, serial numbers and warranty.
You decide which services go into a contract, at what price, and what is invoiced separately. Those choices set your margin. See how IFS Service Management connects contracts, parts and billing.
Why do separate systems fail with service contracts?
Because a contract needs data from every system, from the installation and the agreement to the visit and the invoice. If the contract sits in the accounts, the maintenance schedule in Excel and the fault report in someone’s inbox, nobody brings that data together.
When coverage, work orders and billing sit in separate systems, it is harder to see what each contract earns and costs. Nor can you see which projects and services earn the most.
What does an integrated system cover for an energy partner?
One chain from customer call to invoice, built around the installation at the customer’s site. Whichever package you choose, it has to do four things for a service contract:
- Invoice monthly or quarterly, in advance or in arrears.
- Index the contract price every year.
- Plan maintenance visits by date, by usage or by a reading such as yield.
- Turn an inverter or battery alarm into a work order.
IFS Cloud contains enterprise resource planning (ERP) and field service management (FSM) in one platform. According to the IFS documentation, a service contract records which installations are covered, with response times, a periodic price, the invoicing interval and price revaluation. Recurring Services plan visits by calendar, usage or condition and generate service requests from them. A reading outside the expected range can start such a request, if your monitoring is connected to IFS Cloud.
IFS Planning & Scheduling Optimization (PSO) then schedules the visit using your technicians’ configured skills. Hours and parts go on the work order, so you see what each contract costs and earns. Test those four points in every software demo against the service you want to sell first.
When does a lighter package suit you better?
When your service is mostly an annual check and a few faults. A solar installer in that position is often better off with a job-sheet app alongside an accounting package such as Exact or AFAS. IFS Cloud starts to pay off when contracts, installations, parts and finance must come together.
We are an IFS Specialized Partner and do not offer independent software selection. See how we assess IFS Field Service Management against your processes.
Where do you start the move to energy partner?
With one service you want to sell as a contract, such as monitoring solar installations or maintaining heat pumps. Work that service out before you choose software:
- Map the systems you use today, where your people lose time and where insight is missing.
- Follow one customer from quote to invoice and note every handover between people and systems.
- Record what the contract covers, which work is billable separately and what response time you promise.
- Decide which data you keep for each installation, such as make, serial number, warranty and maintenance interval.
- Use this service as the test case in every software demo.
We map those handovers with your team, so everyone can see who owns the next action. You decide which service to start with and what you promise the customer. Then you know what a system has to connect.
Questions about becoming an energy partner
When does the Dutch netting scheme end, and what replaces it?
The Dutch netting scheme ends on 1 January 2027. Offsetting fed-back electricity against your own use applies until 31 December 2026. From 1 January 2027, the energy supplier pays compensation for electricity fed back, at no less than 50% of the bare supply tariff until 2030.
What is the difference between an installer and an energy partner?
An installer finishes the job at handover. An energy partner stays involved afterwards, with maintenance, monitoring, fault repair and advice on using self-generated power. Those commitments are set out in a service contract with a periodic price.
Which certificates does an installer need to maintain heat pumps in the Netherlands?
A BRL 100 certificate for the company and a BRL 200 certificate for each technician, as soon as they work with refrigerant (F-gases). The Dutch inspectorate ILT states this and checks compliance. Self-employed installers and sole traders need the company certificate too.
How long do an inverter and solar panels last?
An inverter lasts 12 years on average and solar panels about 25 years, according to the Dutch Kenniscentrum Duurzaam Leven. The inverter usually needs replacing before the panels do. The centre advises having panels and inverter inspected if yield drops by more than 10%.
Discuss your IFS question
Tell us where you stand with IFS. After one conversation you will have a clear next step. Bring the service you want to offer as a contract and the systems you use today. Book a call with Indra Zunder.
