Do you own a Small or Medium Enterprise (SME), and do you spend at least 7% of your turnover on energy? If so, you may qualify for Energy cost relief for energy-intensive SMEs (TEK). You can apply for TEK from 21 March 2023, 09:00 CET, to 2 October 2023, 17:00 CEST. The European Commission must approve the scheme based on its compliance with European regulations for government aid.
Terms and conditions
The most important conditions are as follows:
- Your company meets the European criteria to qualify as an SME. Use the SME test to find out whether this is the case for your company.
- Your company is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce.
- If you do not have a registered office and a trade name, we consider you an entrepreneur if you file a turnover tax return. Your turnover should not be below a certain level.
- Even if you do not file a turnover tax return, you may still be considered to have a company if your turnover is exempt from turnover tax.
- Your company, association or foundation was registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce no later than 31 December 2022.
- At least 7% of your company's turnover is spent on energy.
- You have a business energy contract (the contract is in the name of your company, association or foundation).
- Your company has fewer than 250 employees and an annual turnover of less than €50 million.
Subsidy
- Maximum prices per m3 of gas and kWh of electricity apply to TEK. For gas, the maximum price is €3.19 per m3. For electricity, the maximum price is €0.95 per kWh.
- You will receive a maximum of €160,000 (or per group of affiliated companies).
- You will only receive a subsidy if the 2023 model price is higher than €1.19/m3 for gas and €0.35/kWh for electricity. We refer to these rates as 'the threshold price'. You will bear all energy costs below the threshold price yourself.
- You will receive an advance of 35% of your total energy cost increase (above the threshold price). This is a lower percentage you are used to from us. This is because we can't predict if energy prices will rise or fall. This way we hope to keep the risk of reimbursement afterwards as small as possible.
- As this relief falls under European government aid regulations, it will be awarded based on the total energy costs per company, not per energy contract or site.
Applying for TEK
You can apply for TEK from 21 March 2023, 09:00 CET, to 2 October 2023, 17:00 CEST. You are entitled to apply for relief from 1 November 2022 to 31 December 2023. This means that part of the relief will be awarded retroactively.
Please do not apply for the scheme if you can manage without it.
More information
If you have any questions about TEK, please contact us.
The Netherlands Enterprise Agency carries out reimbursement of fixed costs on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. The Dutch government expects enterprises to conduct business responsibly, respecting people, the environment and society, in compliance with international OECD guidelines and human rights treaties.