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ACM immediately revokes supply licenses of energy supplier HEM

Summary

  • ACM immediately revokes the licenses of energy supplier HEM
  • HEM (currently: HollandsStroom) has serious financial problems, and is no longer able to supply energy in a secure manner
  • ACM will ensure that HEM’s 13,500 customers will continue to receive natural gas and electricity as usual. Customers do not need to do anything, and will automatically be contacted by their new supplier

An investigation of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has revealed that energy supplier HollandsStroom (previously trading under the name Hollandse Energie Maatschappij, or HEM) is no longer able to supply energy in a secure manner. HEM has not properly organized the purchase of natural gas for the month of December, and has insufficient funds to pay outstanding bills. That is why ACM has decided to immediately revoke HEM’s licenses. ACM will ensure that all of HEM’s 13,500 customers will continue to receive natural gas and electricity as usual, and that they will get a new contract from a new supplier. The revocation of the licenses can have financial consequences, for example for customers that are still owed money from HEM.

Previous actions against HEM

Earlier this year, ACM imposed a fine of 1.1 million euros on HEM for engaging in misleading practices in the sale of energy contracts. In addition, ACM has taken action against HEM’s unreasonably high rates. In April 2024, HEM made binding commitments to ACM. As a result of those commitments, HEM’s customers were able to switch energy suppliers without having to pay early-termination fees. Customers could also choose to stay with HEM at reduced rates.

As a result of this commitment, many of HEM’s customers (current and former) are still owed money from HEM. HEM has committed to giving all of its former customers that were entitled to refunds their money back before January 1, 2025. For customers that had decided to stay with HEM, their refunds would be settled with their annual bills.

ACM has carefully checked whether HEM complied with the commitment, and, in that process, has requested information on several occasions, and has carried out multiple company inspections. The goal of these enforcement actions was to ensure that HEM complied with its commitment to give customers their money back. In October, ACM published a press release with advice for HEM’s customers. A judge subsequently ruled that ACM could not publish that advice just like that.

As ACM had indications that HEM’s commitment to its customers was in danger, ACM on December 5, 2024, carried out another company inspection at the offices of HEM. It turned out that HEM was in critical and serious financial trouble. As a consequence, it was no longer realistically conceivable that customers would still receive their compensations for too high rates or unjustly paid early-termination fees. The company inspection also revealed that HEM had not properly organized the purchase of natural gas as of 1 December. The costs thereof would be borne by the system operators. That, in turn, would lead to higher tariffs of the system operators, which means that all of their customers would pay more. The longer this situation lasts, the higher the costs become. That is why ACM has decided to immediately revoke HEM’s licenses.

Manon Leijten, Member of the Board of ACM, adds: “In April, we accepted HEM’s commitment because, in that way, we were able to ensure that customers could cancel their contracts with HEM without any costs. We subsequently carefully monitored whether HEM complied with the commitment. HEM was given ample scope to do so, but we are seeing that HEM has many creditors right now, and that it is not realistically conceivable that customers will still get their money back. That is bad news for customers that had counted on that. Immediate revocation of the licenses was thus unavoidable in order to prevent further harm.”

Next steps

As HEM no longer has any licenses to supply natural gas and electricity to consumers and other small-scale users, ACM activates a procedure that ensures that customers will continue to receive natural gas and electricity as usual, and that they are transferred to another supplier. This procedure has been laid down in the Dutch Electricity Act and the Dutch Gas Act.

HEM has several days to sell its customer database to another supplier. HEM has informed ACM that it is already in contact with another supplier. If HEM’s customers are taken over by another supplier, ACM will assess whether these suppliers meet the requirements for a secure supply of energy. If HEM does not succeed in having its customer database be taken over by a single supplier, all customers will be distributed among all other suppliers. During this transitional period, which lasts until 20 December 2024, at the latest, customers are unable to switch suppliers themselves.

Customers will automatically be informed by their new energy supplier about their energy contracts, and do not need to do anything right now. Once customers have been transferred, they will subsequently be able to decide whether or not to stay with that supplier or to switch suppliers anyway. Their new supplier can impose a notice period of no more than 30 days.

If customers have any questions, they can contact HEM. If HEM can no longer be reached by phone, ACM recommends customers to keep an eye on ACM ConsuWijzer’s website. As soon as more information becomes available, ACM ConsuWijzer’s press release will be expanded. It is possible that HEM will go bankrupt after the revocation of the licenses. In that case, customers that are still owed money from HEM may contact the receiver.

See also

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