High energy prices
Energy is expensive right now. And that’s not all. The costs of many other things, such as day-to-day groceries, have risen sharply. We are aware that many of our tenants are struggling to pay their bills because of this. And we are as concerned as you (probably) are about the situation.
To try to ease things, we’ve put together some information about how you can reduce your energy usage and where you can get help. We are also working hard on improving our rental homes to make them more energy-efficient. Together, we can reduce energy consumption.
The less energy you use, the less you’ll have to pay. These simple energy-saving tips can help you do that. Using less energy is also better for the planet.
You pay us a fixed monthly amount for your heating. We pay the heating company, based on actual consumption, and eventually balance that amount with what you paid to us.
How do I pay for my energy?
Part of the monthly rent you pay us is for service costs, which include energy. These service costs are advance payments, based on the actual costs incurred over the previous year. At the end of our financial year, we compare your latest actual costs with your advance payments. If you’ve paid more than the actual costs, we refund you the difference. If you’ve paid less than the actual costs, you have to pay extra to make up the difference.
How do I know how much my energy has cost?
Your energy costs are stated on your (financial) year-end bill from Stadswonen. Most of our residential buildings do not have individual meters for each room / unit. You therefore can’t see your own meter reading.
Why not?
Most of our residential buildings have shared energy connections because:
- Installing individual meters and billing everyone separately costs money in itself. This would result in you paying more, not less.
- In most of our residential buildings, tenants share kitchens, showers and toilet facilities. This makes it virtually impossible to measure exactly how much each person uses.
- In large student buildings, where tenants move in and out a lot, measuring and billing for individual usage is extremely difficult. Doing this would be very time-consuming and result in higher costs.
Will I have to pay more in 2023?
Due to the high energy prices, we already know that your advance payments are out-of-line with energy costs from1 January 2023. You will probably have to pay extra to make up the difference for the first half of 2023, and need to pay a higher monthly advance from July 2023.
You will still receive money from the government to offset the high energy prices via the shared connection allowance scheme. We do not yet know how much you’ll get. Once we have all the necessary details, we’ll be able to calculate the amount per tenant, at which point we will contact you. We do know this allowance will not fully offset the amount by which the cost of energy has increased. You will therefore still end up having to pay more.
We have gathered our tenants’ most often asked questions about energy prices, surcharges and payment problems, and answered these on our energy costs FAQs page.
Do you want to reduce your energy bill, but don't know how? Or is the high cost-of-living making it impossible for you to pay your rent and bills? Here are some ways to get help:
If you are unable to pay your rent on time due to all these rising costs, you can request a special payment arrangement via the Stadswonen Portal. Do this as soon as possible to prevent (even more) problems. If you are having difficulty requesting a payment arrangement, or have any other questions, please contact us via incasso@stadswonenrotterdam.nl or call 010-245 67 00.
You may also find useful information via the following links (translation possible through browser on page):
Geldzorgen | Rotterdam.nl
Rondkomen schulden | Rotterdam.nl
Hulpteam Geldzaken | Rotterdam.nl
Welkom op Rondkomen in Rotterdam.nl - Rondkomen
Worth knowing
If you log in to the Stadswonen Portal, you’ll be able to see an overview of your paid and outstanding amounts. By default, your rent is taken from your bank account on the first day of each month. But you can actually change this up to 5 days later or earlier if you wish, via this page.
The government has various measures in place to help you. We have listed the government measures that may apply to you. We keep this page up-to-date by adjusting it as and when things change or more clarity becomes available about a certain measure.
Stadswonen Rotterdam is part of Woonstad Rotterdam, with whom we share an aim to get all our homes CO2 neutral by 2050. We are currently working hard towards this by insulating properties, fitting energy-efficient boilers and moving away from gas.
Not everything is immediately noticeable to everyone. We have over 50,000 homes to maintain and improve. This takes time. And we have many decisions to make about the order of what we do and where we do it. Our approach is explained on the Woonstad Rotterdam website (Dutch).
