Once upon a time, the Netherlands was a model of “smart energy.”
A green tariff of €0.06 per kilowatt-hour encouraged citizens to install solar panels, invest in the future, and join the movement toward energy independence. You produced clean power — the state rewarded you.
But now the logic has flipped upside down: the tariff has become negative — –€0.06 per kWh. In other words, citizens not only give away their electricity for free, but actually have to pay for doing so.
This isn’t just an economic paradox. It’s the anti-utopia of the green transition, where initiative and trust are punished instead of supported.
