Dutch rental energy labels: insulation, heat pumps and summer heat

When looking for a home in the Netherlands, you will often see an A, B or C energy label in the listing. Some homes also advertise “no natural gas”, a heat pump or whole-house heat-recovery ventilation.

These details affect everyday life: how much heating you need in winter, which fixed charges you pay each year and whether the bedroom can cool down during a summer heatwave. They answer different questions, though. A single letter cannot tell you whether a home will feel comfortable or have low energy bills.

The energy label matters, but it does not predict your bill

The Dutch residential energy label, or energielabel, runs from A++++, the most energy-efficient rating, to G. The assessment considers insulation, windows, heating, hot water, ventilation and solar energy. Under standard assumptions about occupancy and climate, it calculates annual primary fossil energy use per square metre to determine the grade. This is a standardised assessment of the building, rather than a rating based on an occupant’s electricity or gas meter readings.

For homes with a similar size, building type and assessment method, the difference between A and C deserves attention. It may reflect better roof or wall insulation, windows that lose less heat or more efficient equipment. Those details are particularly worth comparing if you work from home or use the heating regularly in winter.

The label does not account for the next tenant’s habits. Your thermostat setting, the number of occupants, shower length and use of appliances such as computers or tumble dryers all affect the actual bill.

And a better energy label does not always mean better insulation. Solar panels and equipment can improve the grade too. Look beyond the letter and read the full label to see how the roof, walls, floor and windows perform individually. RVO’s official explanation also notes that the energy figure on the label is not the consumption shown on your energy bill.

Check the label’s date before comparing it with the neighbours’

Energy labels are usually valid for ten years. The letter in a listing may come from an assessment made years ago, or the label may have expired. Equally, new windows or insulation installed since the assessment do not mean the old label has been updated.

You can look it up through EP-online or Zoek je energielabel. Ask the landlord for the complete document and check the address, assessment date and expiry date. The registration in EP-online is the authoritative record.

Be careful when comparing labels from different periods. The Netherlands introduced a new calculation method in 2021, so a home can receive a different grade on reassessment even without substantial building work.

Could a different assessor produce a different result? Energy advisers must follow standard rules, but site records, the completeness of supporting documents and input errors can affect the outcome. For example, without evidence of insulation work, the adviser may have to use a more conservative default based on the building’s age.

Labels for other homes in the same building or neighbourhood can help you identify questions to ask. But top-floor, ground-floor and end properties lose heat differently from homes surrounded by other occupied units. Their windows, equipment and renovation dates may also differ.

A neighbour’s label is a reason to ask questions, not a substitute for this home’s assessment. If the grades differ significantly, ask the landlord to explain rather than immediately assuming an error. RVO’s frequently asked questions explain the differences between assessment methods and what tenants can do if they have questions about a label.

A home without gas can avoid more than usage charges

If a listing says gasloos or aardgasvrij, ask what supplies the heating, hot water and cooking appliances.

A home without natural gas may be all-electric, or it may use district heating. The bills have different components.

Gas costs include more than the cubic metres you use. There are also the supplier’s fixed charges and network, connection and metering costs. Using very little gas does not make those fixed charges disappear. Only remove the relevant gas costs from your budget once you have confirmed that the unneeded gas connection and contract have formally ended. Electricity network charges remain.

A home with district or shared heating can still have fixed heating charges, usage charges or equipment rental fees even if it has no gas supply of its own. Ask whether you pay the supplier directly or whether the costs are included in the landlord’s service charges.

When comparing homes, compare total annual energy costs, not just whether they use gas. Add these items to your living costs beyond rent. ACM explains the components of network charges and heating bills.

If there is a heat pump, ask which type

A heat pump, or warmtepomp, uses electricity to move heat from sources such as outdoor air or the ground into the home. It works differently from a heater that simply uses an electric element to generate heat.

For a rental, the main distinction is:

• All-electric heat pump: can provide both space heating and domestic hot water. If cooking does not require gas either, it may be possible to end the gas connection altogether.
• Hybrid heat pump: works alongside a gas boiler. The heat pump provides some of the heating, while the boiler usually still supplies hot water and adds heat when needed. Gas usage and fixed gas charges may therefore remain.

Heat-pump performance also depends on the home’s insulation, system design and whether the underfloor heating or radiators are suitable for low-temperature heating. A heat pump in the listing is not enough to establish that energy costs will be low.

At a viewing, ask which functions the system provides, how large the hot-water storage tank is, where the outdoor unit sits and when it was last serviced. If the landlord says it also cools the home in summer, check that the equipment supports cooling and which rooms it serves. Not every heat pump or heating system can cool. Milieu Centraal’s all-electric heat-pump guide explains the equipment in more detail.

For the controls you will use day to day, see our guide to radiators, underfloor heating and heating controls. It explains what radiator knobs and underfloor manifolds do.

Heat-recovery ventilation reduces heat lost through ventilation

Whole-house heat recovery in a listing often refers to balanced ventilation with heat recovery: balansventilatie met warmteterugwinning, usually shortened to WTW.

The system brings in fresh outdoor air while extracting indoor air. In winter, it uses heat from the outgoing air to warm the incoming cold air, reducing the heat lost through ventilation.

This can be valuable in a well-insulated, airtight home, but the system needs to work properly and be maintained. During a viewing, look for supply vents in the bedrooms, listen to the operating noise and ask who cleans and replaces the filters and services the equipment.

For summer, ask whether the system has a bypass. When the air outside is cooler than indoors, this allows the cooler incoming air to bypass the heat exchanger. Ordinary WTW ventilates the home and recovers heat; it should not be treated as air conditioning. See Milieu Centraal’s explanation of balanced ventilation.

Check how the home stays cool as well as how it stays warm

Good insulation reduces heat loss in winter and can slow heat coming in during summer. But when sunlight keeps passing through large windows and warming the interior, that heat can also be difficult to release once it is inside.

An A-rated home can therefore still overheat during a heatwave. It is especially worth checking shading and ways to release heat in top-floor homes, homes with west-facing or large windows, and homes where windows open on only one side.

At the viewing, look at:

• Which direction the living room and bedrooms face, and whether they receive prolonged afternoon sun.
• External shading, awnings or shutters. Shading outside the window blocks solar heat before it passes through the glass.
• Whether air can flow through the home when it is cooler outside, and whether opening windows at night is practical.
• Any cooling equipment: which rooms it serves, how you operate it and how its costs are charged.

The full energy label may also include summer overheating risk. Read that information rather than relying only on the letter on the first page. Milieu Centraal’s guide to reading an energy label explains its different parts.

Once you move in, use shading and limit incoming hot air during hot days while maintaining necessary ventilation. When it becomes cooler outside than indoors, open windows more widely to release heat. Milieu Centraal’s summer cooling guide has practical advice.

Take these six questions to the viewing

1. Can I see the full energy label, including the assessment and expiry dates?
2. Have the windows, insulation or equipment changed since that assessment?
3. What supplies the space heating, domestic hot water and cooking appliances?
4. Besides usage charges, which network, heating, equipment rental or service charges apply?
5. Who maintains the ventilation and heat pump? What shading, ventilation or cooling options are available in summer?
6. Can you provide the past year’s actual consumption and annual settlement, and say how many people lived here?

Past bills depend on the previous occupants’ numbers and habits, as well as the prices at the time. They are only a reference, but are usually more useful than a monthly advance alone. The energy grade helps you narrow your search; the complete label, equipment and actual usage give you a clearer picture of living in the home.

Once you know how energy is supplied, compare fixed, variable and dynamic energy contracts if you need your own contract. Your budget needs to account for both the home’s energy performance and the way the contract prices its supply.