knowledge article/ energy transition

The Dutch hybrid heat pump requirement from 2029: what you tell your customers now.

Will the hybrid heat pump become mandatory in the Netherlands? The Dutch government wants that from 2029. Anyone who then replaces their gas boiler can, according to the letter to the House of Representatives of 7 October 2026, in many cases no longer make do with just a new boiler. At least a smart hybrid heat pump has to go with it. It is not law yet: the amendment to the Dutch Building Works Decree (Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving) is worked out and consulted on in 2027, and publication is planned for mid 2028.

Below: what is fixed, what is still open and what you can already tell your customers now. Each date says where it comes from; you will find all sources at the bottom.

This is an explanation, not legal advice. What will apply is only fixed once the amendment to the Bbl has been published.

the letter to the house/

What the Dutch government announced on 7 October.

The Dutch Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning sent the letter, also on behalf of the Minister of Climate and Green Growth, under reference 2026-0000499978. The commitment comes from the coalition agreement.

The standard goes into the Dutch Building Works Decree (Bbl). It already contains an efficiency requirement for heating installations, and that requirement is being tightened. It does not name a technology. It is set so that a hybrid heat pump meets it, and so does anything that heats even more efficiently. A gas boiler on its own then no longer meets it, and neither do infrared panels or an electric heater as the only heating.

The moment is the replacement of the gas boiler. According to the letter, that usually happens at the end of its life, when people move or when they renovate. The government chooses that moment so that no working boilers have to be written off.

If a home can go fully electric, the letter says that is preferred. Then the remaining gas use and the gas connection disappear as well.

There is something useful in it for the site survey: according to the research the letter refers to, a hybrid heat pump usually needs no heavier connection and works well on a single phase. Read the letter itself (in Dutch)

where it stands/

What is fixed and what is not yet.

The letter is a progress report. Part of it has been decided, part is still being worked out, and all of it still has to go through the procedure for an amendment to the Bbl.

Decided

The route

The standard goes into the Dutch Building Works Decree (Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving, Bbl), as a stricter efficiency requirement for heating installations.
The moment

It applies when the gas boiler is replaced. A boiler that works does not have to come out earlier.
The requirement

A hybrid heat pump meets it. A fully electric heat pump does too. A gas boiler alone, infrared panels or an electric heater do not.
Smart

The heat pump must be controllable. What that means technically is set out in NTA 8171.

Still open

The law

It is a plan. The amendment to the Bbl still has to go through consultation, parliamentary scrutiny and publication.
Who it covers

The exact scope follows after the research of early 2027 and the decision of spring 2027.
The exceptions

Foreseen are homes that will be connected to a heat network in the short term, apartment buildings and listed buildings. Whether and when they are included later after all, and what happens with schools and commercial buildings, is still open.
How smart is checked

How the requirement for smart control ends up in the standard is one of the building blocks still being worked out.

an old date/

Mandatory from 2026? Where that date comes from.

In May 2022 the Dutch government of the day announced the hybrid heat pump as the standard from 2026, then also through the Bbl. In 2024 that requirement was scrapped. The annual report of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy for that year names the abolition as the likely reason that demand for heat pumps fell.

Websites and brochures still regularly say that the hybrid heat pump is mandatory from 2026. So that is wrong. There is no standard for 2026, and the new plan names 2029 as the earliest feasible start.

Techniek Nederland, the Dutch installation trade association, points out that demand collapsed after the requirement was scrapped, while installers had just invested in training. The association asks for the rules to be fixed at least a year before they come in.

smart/

What smart means: NTA 8171.

From 2029, every newly installed hybrid heat pump must also be smart. Smart here means controllable: you can set and control the heat pump so that it heats outside the peak hours on the electricity grid, or when electricity is cheap.

What that requires technically is set out in NTA 8171, a Dutch Technical Agreement that NEN, the Dutch standards body, published on 7 October 2026. It describes how a heat pump installation communicates with the rest of the energy system and responds to signals such as dynamic prices. It looks at the installation as a whole, so including the controls. You can view it free of charge at NEN.

According to NEN, most heat pumps now subsidised through the Dutch ISDE subsidy already have smart functions. How exactly the requirement goes into the standard, the government is still working out.

at the kitchen table/

What you tell your customers now.

A working boiler may stay

The standard applies at replacement. Anyone who now has a boiler that works well does not have to do anything, not in 2029 either. Only when that boiler is replaced does the new requirement count.

Until the standard comes in, nothing changes at replacement

If your customer replaces the boiler before the start date, they may do so with just a new gas boiler, as now. That boiler then stays until it is due for replacement itself. Milieu Centraal, the Dutch independent energy information body, advises combining a new boiler with a hybrid heat pump straight away. If one is not available right away, have the connection prepared already. Then the boiler is ready for the hybrid heat pump when your customer takes the step later.

The Dutch ISDE subsidy: work with what there is now

For a (hybrid) heat pump the ISDE currently gives at least €500; the amount per type is on the registration code list from RVO. Your customer applies for the subsidy after the installation, within 24 months, and an installation company has to do the installation. According to the letter to the House, there is money for the ISDE at least up to and including 2030.

For 2027 there is a proposal: less per kW of thermal capacity, a higher bonus for an A+++ label and requirements for smart control. The consultation closed on 21 August 2026. Do not give your customer any amounts for 2027 until the final regulation is there. How you put the ISDE on your quote as information, separate from your price, you can read on the page about Fikst for heat pump installers.

A boiler of 12 years or older

Milieu Centraal advises that with a boiler of 12 years or older you already look into the options, before it breaks down. With a broken boiler in winter there is little time to choose a heat pump. You can have that conversation now.

your maintenance base/

Your boilers as a calling round.

Your maintenance base knows which customers have a boiler, and since when. If the standard goes ahead, every boiler that is due for replacement in 2029 or later falls under it. With those customers you can have the conversation now: about a hybrid heat pump at the next replacement, or about the connection you prepare at the next maintenance visit.

Look at the house as well. If it is well insulated, a fully electric heat pump is the obvious choice. That starts with a heat loss calculation, so you know what capacity the home needs.

If you already schedule the maintenance visits from contracts, the page about maintenance contracts will help.

and Fikst/

What Fikst shows you about your boilers.

Fikst is software for installation companies in heat pumps, air conditioning and the energy transition. The register with your customers' units, the questionnaire for the site survey and the heat pump choice are in it.

Boilers in the register

A gas boiler is in the register as a unit of the type Boiler, with the customer and the address, with brand, model, serial number, installation date and warranty. You link it to a maintenance contract like any other unit.
Your selection for the calling round

In the list of installations you filter under More filters on the type of unit and on the installation date. Then all boilers installed before a given date are listed one below the other, with the customer alongside.
The boiler in the questionnaire

In the questionnaire for the site survey, the customer portal asks how the home is heated now and what kind of gas boiler is fitted, with a close-up of the rating plate. Your adviser has that before they walk in.
Hybrid in the heat pump choice

After the heat loss calculation you choose a heat pump from your own products. There you filter on application: all-electric, hybrid or both, for the products where that is filled in.

What Fikst does not do

There is no separate field for the year of manufacture of a boiler. You work with the installation date, and that does have to be filled in.

Fikst does not run a calling round or campaign for you. You have the selection in the list; the calling you do yourself.

The heat loss calculation does not work out a separate hybrid set-up, in which the boiler helps out on cold days. Whether a heat pump is smart according to NTA 8171, Fikst does not check either.

Do you mainly work on heat pumps, solar panels and home batteries? Read what Fikst does for the energy transition

Questions about the hybrid heat pump from 2029.

All frequently asked questions about Fikst

Is a hybrid heat pump mandatory in the Netherlands from 2029?

That is the plan of the Dutch government, in the letter to the House of 7 October 2026. From 2029, when the gas boiler is replaced, in many cases at least a smart hybrid heat pump is needed. It is not law yet: the amendment to the Dutch Building Works Decree (Bbl) goes to consultation in 2027 and is planned for publication in mid 2028.

Does a working gas boiler have to come out in 2029?

No. The standard applies at the moment the boiler is replaced, usually at the end of its life, when people move or when they renovate. A boiler that works may stay.

Was the hybrid heat pump not already mandatory from 2026?

That was the plan announced in May 2022. In 2024 that requirement was scrapped, so there is no standard for 2026. What is on the table now is a new plan with 2029 as the earliest start.

Which homes does the standard not apply to?

The Dutch government already foresees that the standard does not apply to homes that will be connected to a heat network in the short term, to apartment buildings and to listed buildings. The exact scope is still being worked out. On schools and commercial buildings the government still has to make a choice.

What is a smart heat pump?

A heat pump you can set and control, so that it heats outside the peak moments on the electricity grid or when electricity is cheap. What it has to be able to do technically is set out in NTA 8171 from NEN, published on 7 October 2026 and free to view.

Does a fully electric heat pump also meet the requirement?

Yes. The requirement is technology neutral and set so that a hybrid heat pump meets it. An installation that heats even more efficiently, such as a fully electric heat pump, therefore meets it too. Where possible, the letter to the House says that is preferred.

What changes to the Dutch ISDE subsidy in 2027?

There is a proposal. In the consultation of summer 2026, the amount per kW of thermal capacity goes down and the bonus for an A+++ label goes up, with new requirements for smart control. Only the final regulation fixes the amounts. Until it is there, you work with the current amounts from RVO.

Sources.

Consulted on 12 October 2026. The timeline and the choices come from the letter to the House of 7 October 2026, unless another source is given.

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