The Consumer Justice Foundation (CJF) has filed a writ of summons with the Amsterdam District Court against all ten major Dutch energy suppliers, seeking justice for millions of Dutch households and small businesses who have been subjected to unfair and unlawful price increases in their variable energy contracts since April 2017.
CJF’s action goes further than any initiative to date by naming all ten major suppliers, ensuring no company escapes accountability and capturing the full breadth of consumer harm across the Dutch market. Alongside Vattenfall, Eneco, Essent, Budget Energie, Energiedirect and Greenchoice (for consumers), CJF also names Greenchoice (for small businesses), Engie, Oxxio, and Vandebron. Together these four suppliers represent in excess of one million customer accounts, meaning over a million additional households now have a path to justice that would otherwise be denied.
This expansion includes the small businesses that form part of daily life – like family-owned bakeries, shops, and cafes – who, like households, deserve protection from unfair practices by energy suppliers. In a time where small businesses are being squeezed, these businesses are being forced to absorb unfair price hikes. Ultimately, the impact is unavoidably passed directly onto their customers, compounding the cost-of-living burden for all Dutch citizens.
The action filed by CJF is also the first to combine consumer protection law with competition law, alleging that suppliers colluded to restrict competition while using unfair clauses to raise prices. Therefore, it holds the energy suppliers jointly and severally liable or the damages resulting therefrom. In doing so, CJF’s action challenges not just individual conduct but a systemic failure across the market, ensuring that no affected group is left without a path to redress.
Backed by a proven litigation team and global class action firm as its funding partner, this action represents the most comprehensive and systemic challenge to date – and the only claim that seeks to hold the entire market to account.
The claim:
- Includes 10 major suppliers: The writ covers the full range of energy companies that allegedly applied unfair contract clauses, including: Vattenfall, Eneco, Essent, Energiedirect, Budget Thuis, Greenchoice / Greenchoice Zakelijk, ENGIE, Oxxio and Vandebron. This expanded scope – more than any other action – ensures that no supplier can evade responsibility for unfair clauses.
- Ensures both households (consumers) and small businesses are represented: The claim goes beyond consumers alone. Small businesses, which form the backbone of the Dutch economy and who have also faced the same sudden hikes and contractual traps, are explicitly represented. By including both groups, the claim reflects the true scale of economic harm suffered across society.
- Combines consumer and competition legal arguments:The claim brought by the CJF is also the first to rely on competition law, as well as consumer law. It alleges that suppliers acted in parallel to restrict competition by raising energy prices unlawfully, either collectively or individually. This dual approach strengthens the case and highlights the systemic nature of the harm. Subsequently, CJF seeks both compensation for past damage and an end to practices that continue to undermine trust and fairness in the Dutch energy market.
- Leading Dutch plaintiff firm, with full funding: The CFJ has instructed bureau Brandeis, a leading Dutch class actions firm, supported by litigation funding from Hagens Berman, a globally recognised US firm with a proven track record in major class actions, to litigate the case on behalf of the largest group of affected persons. This combination ensures the action has the expertise and resources to see the case through to its conclusion.
Since April 2017, energy suppliers have relied on “Amendment” and “Modification” clauses to unilaterally raise prices in variable energy contracts. It is unclear whether customers were told why, when, or by how much their energy bills would rise, leaving them financially exposed to sudden and steep increases.
Courts and regulators have already confirmed that such clauses breach European consumer law. Yet despite these rulings, the CJF alleges that suppliers have continued to use them, shifting risks and costs onto their customers.
As the claimant foundation (stichting) bringing this case, CJF represents all affected customers collectively, providing them with an efficient legal pathway to challenge the use of unfair contract clauses in the Dutch energy market, and a system that has left both consumers and small businesses paying the price.
Speaking on behalf of the CJF, Michael Lints, Chairman of the Board and an experienced business leader, said:
“This action is about restoring trust and fairness in the Dutch energy market. We are not targeting a single supplier. We are challenging the entire system that has allowed unfair clauses to persist. Millions of households and small businesses have carried the burden of sudden and unexplained price hikes for too long. By uniting all affected customers, holding all major suppliers to account, and combining consumer law with competition law, this claim represents the strongest and most complete path to justice which we are determined to secure on behalf of those affected.”
Household energy costs in the Netherlands have risen sharply in recent years, with average annual bills estimated at around €2,065 in 2025 – roughly double the level of 2020, according to the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS). This burden has pushed an estimated 510,000 households (6.1%) into energy poverty in 2024, with a further one million considered “at risk” due to high costs and inefficient homes, according to provisional figures from CBS and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). Compared with other EU countries, Dutch households face some of the highest gas prices, ranking second only to Sweden in late 2024.
The impact has been felt by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which make up 99.9% of all businesses in the Dutch non-financial business economy (European Commission, SME Country Fact Sheet, 2021). When these businesses are forced to absorb or pass on energy price hikes, it fuels a cycle of inflation that directly affects their own customers. The Dutch government has already intervened to introduce relief measures such as the €1.4 billion TEK scheme, a temporary subsidy designed to offset energy costs for energy-intensive SMEs, underlining the severity of the crisis.
The writ of summons has now been filed. CJF invites all affected households and small businesses to join the claim and seek the compensation they are owed for years of unfair energy costs.
