On this page you will find answers to frequently asked questions about the energy assistance payment for students, applying for it, the objection procedure and going to court. This is an addition to our information page about the energy assistance. Do you have any further questions? Please contact us, for example by emailing lsvb@lsvb.nl or by sending us a DM via Instagram!
The process of going to court for the energy assistance payment always consists of three parts. You can only take these steps in this order!
- Application. This comes first and is almost always rejected by your municipality.
- Objection. You can appeal against a rejected application. This shows that you disagree with the decision of your municipality. This objection is also almost always rejected by municipalities.
- To court. If your objection has also been rejected, you can go to court, so that the court can decide whether your application and objection have been rightly rejected. So you always need both a rejected application and a rejected objection to go to court!
A number of municipalities make it impossible in advance for students to complete the application form for energy compensation. If that is the case, you can still make the application using our sample letter via the general contact and/or complaint form of your municipality.
Thank you for joining a class action lawsuit! The Dutch Student Union is not a natural person and can therefore not legally be an interested party in a collective case. We can, however, answer legal questions or refer you to other bodies that can provide you with (free) legal support. Please contact our Student Line via lsvb.nl/studentenlijn.
Before you participate in a class action lawsuit, it is important that you are an interested party yourself. This means that you must first have submitted the application to your municipality, that it must have been rejected and that you have objected, after which the objection was also rejected. Only then you can join a class action lawsuit.
The Dutch student union has started a collective lawsuit in Groningen together with FNV Young & United. If you have made an application in the municipality of Groningen, have been rejected and objected against this decision, please send an email to midas@lsvb.nl
No. allowances and benefits do not count towards the calculation of your income. But please note: unlike when applying for regular benefits, such as rent and healthcare benefits, your loan and/or student grant does count in the calculation. Of course, this also applies to salary or other income that you earn with your side job or your company.
Unfotunately, yes. The service costs you pay are an advance payment. It is often the case that you pay too much, which means you get money back at the end of the year. However, this year that will probably go the opposite way, which means you have to pay extra. Your landlord has until June 30, 2023, to come up add an extra service for the service costs of 2022.
If your application for the energy assistance payment is rejected, you can submit an objection up to 6 weeks after receiving your rejection. If your objection is rejected, you have another 6 weeks to appeal.
Almost all municipalities in the Netherlands are currently postponing a decision on energy allowance for students. If you have not yet received a decision 8 weeks after your application, you can give your municipality a notice of default (in gebreke stellen). This forces your municipality to take a decision within 2 weeks and share it with you. If they don’t, they have to pay a fine. A template for a letter of default can be found at the top of this page, under sample letters.
For a case about the energy allowance, you have to go to an administrative court. For this court you only pay a court fee. This fee is fifty euros.