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Municipalities that canceled the contract with the energy supplier Gazprom under pressure from Minister Jetten (Climate and Energy) must be fully compensated. This is the opinion of the governing parties CDA and ChristenUnie. Municipalities have been unfairly accused of high costs, both sides say.
The cabinet has announced compensation for this year, but the CDA and ChristenUnie believe it is insufficient. They indicate the municipalities that had a continuous contract for 2023. They are the ones that have suffered the most and must receive the full reimbursement of the additional costs as a priority. The majority in the House agrees.
jets particular in April that some 300 municipalities, schools and water companies had to sever their ties with Gazprom due to European sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine. Gazprom is a Russian state-owned company.
The doubts were immediately, even in the House. He asked Jetten to reconsider his plans. The minister then decided to move the deadline for the switch to March 1, 2023. But dozens of municipalities had already broken with Gazprom and entered into new contracts with other suppliers, at much higher prices.
“Jetten’s Estimation Error”
Last week It turned out that the termination of the contracts was not necessary at all. The municipalities were customers of a Dutch branch of the company, which in turn belonged to a German branch of Gazprom. That German branch has now been nationalized by the German state. Plans for this were already known.
“An error of judgment by Jetten,” says Christian Union Member of Parliament Pieter Grinwis. “There was no longer any Russian touch in that society and gas from other suppliers also came partly from Russia. So it was doubly wrong and municipalities were pushed into high costs.”
For example, the municipality of Utrecht spent an extra 11 million euros to light up street lamps and heat swimming pools. Dordrecht and a number of neighboring municipalities also had an ongoing contract with Gazprom.
According to Grinwis, the relatively small municipality of Sliedrecht will therefore lose an additional 1 million euros on an annual basis. “It means 40 euros per inhabitant. That’s really a lot of money. If you aren’t careful, it goes to the detriment of structures such as the library, swimming pool and social centres”.
