Biggest energy companies in the Netherlands in 2018, by number of clients

Essent, Vandebron and Energiedirect.nl together served more than three million people in 2018, making them the largest energy suppliers of the Netherlands. Both are brands from German-based innogy, itself a subsidiary of RWE. Domestic company Eneco, together with its subsidiary Oxxio, reached 2.4 million clients. Dutch households on average paid around 17.07 cents per kWh for electricity.

Why can I not find the market shares of energy companies in the Netherlands?

Energy companies in the Netherlands do not have to share their financial data with the local authorities. In 2004, the government in the Netherlands liberalized the supply of electricity and natural gas, allowing more private energy suppliers to enter the market. Because of this liberalization, there is less data available for the energy market in the Netherlands than in Belgium or Luxembourg. In Luxembourg, for example, Enovos had an electricity market share of 74 percent whereas in Belgium different market shares existed for the three different regions.

Are these companies also responsible for the energy infrastructure?

The energy companies mentioned in this ranking are energy suppliers only. The country’s distribution network is maintained by different regional companies. Liander, for example, operates in the Amsterdam area wheras Stedin is active in cities as Rotterdam and Utrecht and most of the South Holland and Utrecht provinces. Enexis operates in five of the 12 Dutch provinces: Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel, Noord-Brabant (except for the city of Eindhoven) and Limburg.