Anyone making their home more sustainable rarely pays the full price. The Dutch central government, municipalities and the Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax Administration) encourage insulation, heat pumps and solar panels with subsidies, low-interest loans and reduced VAT rates. However, what is on offer changes regularly: budgets are adjusted, conditions tightened and schemes merged. This article explains how the main schemes work, which conditions you must meet and in which order it is best to take measures, so that you do not miss out on a subsidy through poor planning. We deliberately do not give amounts; they change every year and you can always find them up to date on rvo.nl and at your municipality.
Insulate first, then installations: for the subsidy too
Almost every scheme is built on the same logic as a good sustainability plan: first reduce the heat demand of the home and only then choose an installation that suits that lower demand. A heat pump in a poorly insulated home runs for many hours, uses a lot of electricity and does not achieve the promised saving. That is why subsidy providers link the highest contributions to insulation measures and to combinations of measures, and set requirements for the home in the case of heat pumps. Which insulation measure delivers the most in your home and how the order of roof, façade, floor, glazing and ventilation works out in practice is explained in Improving your energy label: which measures really count.
So do not start by applying for a subsidy, but with a plan. A maatwerkadvies (tailored energy advice) from a certified energy adviser, or as a first step the free check on Verbeterjehuis from Milieu Centraal, shows which measures suit your home and which schemes go with them. With that plan in hand you request quotes and know which requirements the contractor must meet to secure the subsidy.
ISDE: the national subsidy for insulation, heat pumps and solar water heaters
The Investeringssubsidie duurzame energie en energiebesparing (ISDE, the investment subsidy for sustainable energy and energy saving) is the national subsidy for homeowners who make their own home more sustainable. The scheme is administered by the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency). For owner-occupiers, it covers, among others, the following measures (the list is extended from time to time, for example with electric cooking facilities and with ventilation combined with insulation):
- Insulation of the roof, façade or cavity wall, floor or crawl-space floor, and replacing glazing with HR++ or triple glazing, possibly including insulating frame panels and doors.
- Heat pumps: both a hybrid heat pump that works together with your central heating boiler and a fully electric heat pump for heating and hot water.
- Solar water heaters for hot tap water.
- Connection to a heat network, if your home qualifies for it.
For private individuals, solar panels do not fall under the ISDE; the benefit for those lies in the VAT rate, more about which below. Biomass boilers and pellet stoves are also no longer subsidised.
The conditions are detailed and strictly checked. The most important:
- Work carried out by a company. Insulation you install yourself does not qualify; the work must be carried out and invoiced by a construction or installation company. For heat pumps and solar water heaters, the appliance must have been installed by an installer; check before buying whether it is on RVO's meldcodelijst (list of approved appliances), because an appliance that is not on it runs the risk of being rejected.
- Minimum insulation value and surface area. Each measure has a minimum thermal resistance (Rd value), for glazing a maximum heat transfer (U value), and a minimum number of square metres. Insulating a few square metres of roof or only replacing the glass in the front door will not earn you a subsidy.
- Apply after the work is done. Unlike many municipal schemes, you apply for ISDE after the measure has been carried out and paid for, within the period stated by RVO. For this you need the invoice, proof of payment and photos of the completed measure. If you wait too long, you lose your entitlement.
- Two measures pay more. Anyone who takes one insulation measure receives a lower amount per square metre than someone who combines two or more measures within the set period, for example cavity wall insulation and HR++ glazing, or insulation combined with a heat pump. So rather plan two measures in one year than one each year.
- Owner and occupant. The scheme for private individuals applies to the home you own and live in yourself. Separate conditions and application desks apply to landlords, VvEs (owners' associations) and businesses.
The exact amounts, Rd values, minimum surface areas and application deadlines are adjusted every year. Check them on rvo.nl before you award the contract, and ask your contractor to carry out and invoice the measure in such a way that the invoice contains all the details RVO asks for: address, type of measure, number of square metres, insulation value and type of material.
Municipal subsidies and the energy desk
In addition to the national ISDE, many municipalities and provinces have their own schemes. These differ greatly: one municipality gives a contribution for small measures such as draught strips and radiator foil, another tops up the ISDE for insulation or covers the cost of energy advice or a green roof. Sometimes the scheme is aimed at specific neighbourhoods or at lower-income households. Budgets are often limited and first come, first served.
The starting point is your municipality's energieloket (energy desk). Every municipality has such a desk, sometimes organised regionally, where you get independent advice and an overview of local schemes. The Energiesubsidiewijzer (energy subsidy finder) on Verbeterjehuis brings national and local schemes together by postcode. With municipal subsidies, note the difference from the ISDE: local schemes often have to be applied for before the work is carried out and sometimes cannot be combined with other subsidies for the same measure. So read the conditions before you sign.
Nationaal Warmtefonds: the Energiebespaarlening
A subsidy rarely covers the entire investment. For the remaining part, the Nationaal Warmtefonds (National Heat Fund), a fund set up with support from the Dutch central government, offers the Energiebespaarlening (energy-saving loan). This is a loan with a fixed, relatively low interest rate, intended for energy-saving measures to your own home: insulation, heat pumps, solar panels, ventilation and in many cases also a home battery or charging point. The term depends on the amount borrowed and you repay monthly. Other ways to pay for a renovation, such as a bouwdepot (construction deposit) or a renovation mortgage, are compared in financing a renovation.
For lower-income households the fund has a variant with an interest rate of 0%, and for homeowners with no borrowing capacity a scheme in which the monthly payments are matched to what they can afford. VvEs can also turn to the Warmtefonds. The income limits and conditions are adjusted regularly; check warmtefonds.nl for the current rules. A loan is still a loan: compare the monthly payments with the expected energy saving and with a possible increase of your mortgage, which can offer extra borrowing capacity for energy-saving measures.
VAT rules: solar panels and insulation labour
The Belastingdienst contributes in two ways. Since 2023, a VAT rate of 0% has applied to the supply and installation of solar panels on or near a home. So you pay no VAT on the panels, the inverter and the mounting work, and you no longer need to register with the Belastingdienst as an entrepreneur for this, as used to be necessary to reclaim the VAT. The zero rate applies to panels on homes and outbuildings; different rules apply to panels on a commercial building.
For insulation work on homes older than two years, the reduced rate of 9% applies to the labour. On the material you in principle pay the normal rate; the installer splits the invoice. The same reduced rate applies to painting and plastering work on older homes. These are tax rules with exceptions and conditions that may change; if in doubt, consult belastingdienst.nl or ask your contractor how they calculated the VAT on the quote.
With solar panels, bear in mind that the salderingsregeling (net metering scheme), under which you offset electricity fed back into the grid against electricity drawn from it, will be ended according to current plans. That changes the payback period, especially without a home battery or smart daytime consumption. So calculate with the current state of the regulations and not with yield figures from a few years ago.
Permits for external wall insulation and heat pumps
The fact that a measure is subsidised does not mean it is permit-free. Interior insulation, cavity wall insulation and floor insulation are usually permit-free. External wall insulation changes the appearance and dimensions of the façade and may require an omgevingsvergunning (environmental permit), especially at the front, on a listed building or in a protected townscape or village view. For the outdoor unit of a heat pump, noise requirements at the property boundary and rules on its location apply; for a listed building or protected view a permit is often required. Solar panels within the roof surface are in most cases permit-free, but here too listed buildings and protected views are the exception. Do the permit check on the Omgevingsloket (the government's online permit portal) before you award the contract and read When do you need a permit for a renovation. If you live in an apartment, you also need permission from the VvE for work on the façade, roof and communal installations.
How to choose a contractor who meets the subsidy conditions
Because subsidies set requirements for how the work is carried out, the choice of your tradesperson is part of the subsidy application. For insulation, ask for a company that works according to recognised quality guidelines and issues an insulation or guarantee certificate; for cavity wall insulation a preliminary survey of the condition of the cavity and of protected species such as bats is also required. For heat pumps, ask for an installer who supplies an appliance from RVO's meldcodelijst, sizes the installation to your home and leaves a commissioning report. Have it recorded in the quote that the invoice will contain the details the subsidy provider asks for and that the contractor will take photos before the insulation is covered up.
Compare at least two or three quotes on the same basis: the same surface area, the same insulation value, the same type of appliance. How to read a quote and clear up any ambiguities is set out in Comparing quotes: how to read a building quote. On VerbouwPro you post your job free of charge and tradespeople from your region with a verified profile and reviews respond: a contractor for façade and floor insulation and new window frames, a roofer for roof insulation combined with new roof covering and a heating engineer or installer for a hybrid or fully electric heat pump. State in your job description that you want to apply for ISDE, so the tradesperson takes this into account when carrying out and invoicing the work.