ERE: Earn Money on Every kWh Your Fleet Charges

Do you drive an electric vehicle, or are you thinking about making the switch? Starting in 2026, you’ll be paid for the electricity you use to charge your vehicle. Not as a subsidy, but as a recurring annual payment. For a charging station with five trucks, this can quickly add up to tens of thousands of euros per year. We’ll explain how it works and what you need to do to qualify.

What are EREs?

The government wants to reduce CO₂ emissions from transportation. That’s why diesel and gasoline suppliers must reduce CO₂ emissions by a greater amount each year. If they can’t achieve that reduction with their own fuel, they must purchase those emission reductions elsewhere. So every time your truck runs on electricity instead of diesel, you reduce CO₂ emissions. That reduction is converted into certificates that you can sell. These are Emission Reduction Units (ERUs). One ERE represents one kilogram of CO₂ saved. This program has been in effect since January 1, 2026, and is administered by the Dutch Emissions Authority (NEa). The reduction requirement for fuel suppliers increases each year through 2030, meaning that demand for EREs is rising, not falling.

New this year issector-based management. EREs earned through road transport fall under the “land” sector and can only be used within that sector. Under the old HBE system, large, low-cost volumes from maritime and inland waterway transport structurally drove down the price of road transport. That is no longer possible. For transportation companies, this is the most significant difference compared to previous years: a separate market with more stable prices. And it’s good to know: this doesn’t just apply to trucks. Electric delivery vans, forklifts, and terminal tractors also count toward the total.

What are the benefits?

That depends on two things: how much you charge and where that electricity comes from.

Where does the electricity come from?	This is roughly what it amounts to
Electricity from the grid	10 cents per kWh
Electricity from your own generation	20 cents per kWh

The reason electricity from your own generation counts almost double is this: on average, half of the electricity from the grid is green. The NEa projects a figure of 50.5% for 2026. Only that half qualifies for EREs. If you charge directly from your own generation, the electricity is 100% green. This means you’ll receive twice as many certificates for the same kWh.

Example

So let's say you have five electric trucks and use them to charge 400,000 kWh per year.

Where does the electricity come from?	This is roughly what it amounts to
All powered by electricity from the grid	€40,000 gross (± €32,000 net)
Almost half powered by electricity from your own generation	€58,000 gross (± €46,000 net)

That’s a difference of €18,000gross peryear, and about €14,000 net. The same trucks, the same number of kWh. The only difference is smarter scheduling of charging times.

What do you need to arrange?

Five things! And it’s best to take care of them before you order charging stations, because replacing a meter after the fact costs unnecessary money.

1. The Right Meter in the Charging Station

Every charging station must have an approved meter built into the station itself. A separate meter in the meter cabinet does not count. Another option is a separate service point downstream from your main service connection that serves only the charging stations. In both cases, the meter must be MID-certified (the installer knows what that means).

2. The connection to the correct name

The money from the EREs goes to the person in whose name the electricity service contract is registered.

• Do you rent your property, or do you share it with other companies? If so, please check that first.
• Do you also allow others to charge at your lot? Drivers from customers, a neighboring business, or charging stations that are open to the public? Those kWh are yours as well, as long as the connection is in your name and you’re the one supplying the electricity.
• Do you lease the poles or the connection to an operator? If so, the revenue will go to that party. Make sure to set this up before the poles are installed, because it’s difficult to reverse afterward.

3. Do you have a battery connected to the port?

If that battery is also connected to the grid, you must be able to show, on an hourly basis, what portion of the electricity stored in that battery came from your own solar panels. To do this, all electricity flowing in and out must be measured. If you can’t do that, you’ll be charged the lower rate and will therefore lose out on revenue.

4. A party that records it

You don’t apply for or sell the certificates yourself. There are specialized companies that handle that. They collect your charging data, report everything, sell the certificates at an opportune time, and transfer the money to you. You only pay when money comes in. Expect to pay 15 to 25% of the proceeds. If you charge more than 2 million kWh per year—which is roughly equivalent to about 25 electric trucks—you can handle it yourself and keep all the proceeds. This does require some administrative work, however. Incidentally, most providers operate on a “no cure, no pay” basis, so you’ll never incur unnecessary costs if you haven’t received any EREs.

5. Do you want to pay the full rate? Then pay close attention!

To qualify for that 20 cents per kWh, you must be able to prove that the electricity actually came from your own generation. That means demonstrating, on an hourly basis, that you were generating electricity at the exact moment the truck was charging.

In addition, there are three conditions: 

• The solar panels and the charging stations must be part of the same property; the panels must not be eligible for an SDE subsidy, and the electricity must be supplied through a commercial connection. If your panels are eligible for an SDE subsidy, you will no longer receive the full rate for that electricity.
• The Guarantees of Origin (GoO) for solar power must be transferred to the NEa. This means you cannot sell them separately on the side. Be sure to factor in that lost GoO revenue when comparing the full rate to the standard rate: in practice, the difference between 10 and 20 cents is slightly smaller than it seems.
• There is also an option where electricity is supplied to your property via a dedicated cable from a solar farm. Different and stricter rules apply in this case; for example, the solar farm cannot be owned by the same company as the charging stations.

Good to Know

• Charging sessions for 2026 must be booked by March 1, 2027. After that, your entitlement will expire.
• For each connection, you work with one provider at a time. Switching providers midway through the year could result in you receiving nothing at all.
• Contracts usually run through December 31. Notice of termination is often required by the end of November.

What about subsidies and taxes?

ERE grants are not subsidies, nor do they come at the expense of subsidies. You can simply combine them with SPRILA for your charging infrastructure, AanZET for your trucks, and with EIA, MIA, or Vamil for your investment. The only exception is SDE for your solar panels: that excludes the full rate for the electricity generated by that system.

Please keep in mind that the revenue istaxable. It is not a tax-free payment, so be sure to use the after-tax amount in your business case.

When will you receive payment for your EREs?

Not yet. The system that tracks everything has been rebuilt and is being rolled out step by step. Charging service providers have been able to request an account since the end of June 2026. The recording of charging sessions will follow a little later. So no one is making payments just yet. But you’re not missing out on anything, because the program applies retroactively starting January 1, 2026. So everything you’ve charged this year will be included when the time comes.

How Repowered Can Help You

There are now many companies that can arrange EREs for you. Unfortunately, those companies can’t do anything to change the amount you receive. We take a different approach: we make sure there’s more money to be earned.

Our smart optimization system, Optima, looks ahead at the weather, electricity prices, your grid connection, and your trucks’ routing schedule. Based on that, we shift charging sessions to the hours when you’re generating your own electricity. Of course, this is done within the constraints of your schedule, because the trucks still need to get back on the road on time. More kWh from your own generated electricity directly translates to higher revenue from exactly the same charging volume. That’s what we call smart charging!

And do you have a battery? Regulations require hourly measurements of everything that goes into and out of your battery. We’ll provide you with this data so you can claim the full rate (a standard control system can’t do that).