Two companies are involved in every Dutch electricity meter and you only get to choose one of them.
The netbeheerder owns the cable and the pipe and is fixed by geography.
In The Hague that is Stedin, and no amount of shopping around changes it.
The leverancier, the supplier who sells you the energy that runs through it, you pick yourself and can change whenever you like.
Your bill carries both.
Stedin’s 2026 household charge for connection and transport is €751.17 a year including VAT for a standard 3x25A electricity connection with a G4 or G6 gas meter, split as €476.76 for electricity and €274.46 for gas.
Your supplier collects it and passes it on.
It is not a fee you can negotiate away.
Choosing a supplier
The real choice is fixed price or variable.
A fixed contract locks the rate for a year or more.
A variable contract moves with the market, and a dynamic one moves hourly.
Comparison sites cover the whole market and the switch itself is handled between the two suppliers, so you do not call anyone to be disconnected.
Leaving early is where the difference bites.
Cancel a variable or dynamic contract and there is no fee at all.
Cancel a fixed one and the supplier may charge for the loss, calculated as your remaining consumption multiplied by the gap between your rate and the going rate for an equivalent contract on the day you cancel.
If the current rate is the same or higher, there is nothing to pay, because there is no loss.
Three protections are worth remembering.
The supplier must calculate that figure within two months of you asking for it.
The notice period is never more than one month.
And a cancellation fee that was not invoiced before your final settlement is not owed.
The new Energiewet replaced the old Electricity and Gas Acts on 1 January 2026, so any advice older than that is worth double-checking.
The discount everyone forgets
Every electricity connection with a residential function gets a flat energy tax rebate, the vermindering energiebelasting.
In 2026 it is €628.96 including VAT for the year, down slightly from €635.19 in 2025.
It has nothing to do with how much you use.
It appears as a deduction on the annual statement or is already baked into your monthly instalment.
If you are comparing a monthly termijnbedrag from two suppliers, check whether each has applied it.
A quote that ignores it looks worse than it is, and one that double-counts it flatters itself.
Water, where there is nothing to choose
Dunea supplies the drinking water for The Hague and the coastal strip, and there is no competitor to switch to.
In 2026 a cubic metre costs €1.58 including VAT and the standing charge for a standard connection is €98.55 including VAT.
Both went up on 1 January: 12 cents per cubic metre and €13.30 on the standing charge.
You can report a move up to three months in advance, and you should do it no later than the day the keys change hands.
Write down the meter reading that day and photograph it.
A disputed opening reading is a tedious thing to argue about six months later with no evidence.
The bills that arrive because of your address
Register at an address in The Hague and the gemeente’s tax office finds you.
Afvalstoffenheffing, the waste charge, is billed on household size as recorded in the BRP on 1 January: €412.56 for one person, €463.80 for two, €507.48 for three or more in 2026.
Move mid-year and it is apportioned.
People on low incomes can apply for kwijtschelding, a waiver, through MijnDenHaag.
Owners get more of these than tenants.
The owner’s share of rioolheffing and the WOZ assessment land on whoever holds the deeds, which is one of the quieter differences between renting and buying here.
Tenants who see charges for these on a rent bill should check the service cost rules, since only legally permitted items may be passed on.
Internet and the two-year rule
Fibre and cable both reach most of The Hague, and the usual providers all quote a one or two year term.
Two years is the legal maximum a telecom contract can tie you for.
When the term ends the subscription rolls on, and from then you can cancel at any time with a notice period of no more than one month, counted from the day you give notice rather than from the end of a billing cycle.
Order the connection before you move rather than after.
Installation slots are the bottleneck, not the paperwork, and a flat that needs an engineer visit can sit dark for a fortnight.
If the previous occupant had fibre, the socket is already there and activation is quicker; if the building has never been connected, ask the provider to confirm the address is available before you sign anything.
The order to do it in
Nothing works before the address does.
Register with the gemeente to get a BSN, then open a Dutch bank account, because almost every utility here bills by automatische incasso and setting one up from a foreign IBAN is possible but slower and occasionally refused.
Then, in one afternoon: photograph the electricity, gas and water meters, compare energy suppliers and sign up, tell Dunea you have moved, order the internet, and note the date your energy contract ends so the renewal does not roll onto a worse rate while you are not looking.
Set a calendar reminder eleven months out.
That one reminder is worth more than most switching advice.
If something in the flat is broken when you arrive, report it in writing straight away and keep the reply.
Repairs are the landlord’s or yours depending on what broke, the contract has to say which, and a fault you mentioned in an email on day two is a very different conversation from one you raise when the deposit is due back.
For anything you are liable for yourself, a handyman in The Hague is cheaper than the landlord’s contractor, and work on the gas or the consumer unit needs a qualified electrician in The Hague rather than a confident friend.
Sources
- Stedin, netbeheertarieven 2026: €751.17 a year including VAT, €476.76 electricity and €274.46 gas
- ACM, opzegvergoeding energiecontract: no fee on variable and dynamic contracts, the calculation for fixed ones, the two-month calculation deadline and the one-month notice cap
- ACM, publications on the Energiewet in force from 1 January 2026
- Vermindering energiebelasting 2026: €628.96 including VAT, against €635.19 in 2025
- Dunea, tarieven and the 2026 tariff announcement: €1.58 per m³ and €98.55 standing charge, both including VAT, and the rises of 12 cents and €13.30
- Gemeente Den Haag, afvalstoffenheffing: €412.56, €463.80 and €507.48 for 2026, billed on the BRP position at 1 January
- ACM ConsuWijzer, telecomabonnement opzeggen: the two-year maximum term and the one-month notice period after it
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