Nearly 1 million households missed bill payments last year

Municipalities across the Netherlands received over one million alerts last year about residents failing to pay essential bills on time, according to new figures released Thursday by Divosa, the national association for municipal social policy directors.

The majority of alerts involved recurring fixed costs—health insurance, energy, water, and rent, Nu.nl reports. While municipalities are required by law to receive early warnings from these service providers to help residents with mounting debts, most of those flagged declined assistance.

In total, Dutch municipalities received 945,000 official “early signals” in 2024, a 10 percent increase compared to the previous year. An additional 85,000 notifications were issued by energy providers warning that customers were at risk of having their contracts terminated due to unpaid bills. Combined, these figures bring the total to over 1.03 million payment-related alerts. The data reflects input from municipalities covering 94 percent of the Dutch population. Not all municipalities participated in the study.

The rise in alerts may not directly indicate a nationwide increase in financial distress, said Divosa researcher Anna Schors. “It could also be that fixed-cost partners are issuing more notifications than before,” she told Nu.nl.

She noted that many water utilities recently switched from sending quarterly bills to monthly invoices. This more frequent billing cycle has led to a rise in late payments.

Despite those caveats, the scale of the problem remains concerning, said debt expert Nadja Jungmann. “When people face problematic debts, a large share still doesn’t seek help, even though they can’t resolve the situation on their own.”

In most cases, the unpaid bills ranged from 250 to 1,000 euros. “Once people start missing multiple payments on fixed expenses, there’s often a deeper issue,” Jungmann told Nu.nl. Municipalities are tasked with stepping in once a resident’s debt crosses a minimum threshold. In 2024, they took action 800,000 times.

Yet only one in five alerts reportedly resulted in successful contact between the municipality and the resident. Of those who were reached, just 35 percent accepted assistance, which could include setting up a payment plan, receiving financial advice, or referrals to other aid services.

“There is a group that’s hard to reach, and that’s a serious concern,” Jungmann said. “It’s a challenge for municipalities to not only make contact but to convince people to accept help.”

According to Jungmann, there are several reasons residents may resist municipal outreach. Some have negative associations with government programs—particularly due to strict enforcement under the Participatiewet, the welfare-to-work law.

The Armoedefonds, a nonprofit focused on poverty relief, reported to Nu.nl that requests for private aid such as food assistance have been rising for years. “One setback and the problems pile up,” said director Henk de Graaf earlier this month. “You can suddenly find yourself living in poverty. We’re seeing this happen more and more.”

Among the four categories of fixed-cost providers, health insurers allegedly issued the most alerts—over 350,000 in 2024.

At VGZ, one of the Netherlands’ largest health insurers, younger clients are most often in trouble. Nearly one in ten customers between the ages of 18 and 35 had payment issues last year. Of that group, 4 percent saw their cases referred to a debt collection agency or the government-run Central Administration Office (CAK).

“It’s very unfortunate that they end up in this situation,” VGZ CEO Art Beuting told Nu.nl. He said reaching this age group is “difficult” and expressed concern that some may start avoiding care. “That could mean they’ll need more care in the long run.”

VGZ is already working with municipalities to offer discounted health insurance packages for low-income individuals. The insurer also plans to tailor its outreach to younger clients, including using people with personal experience of debt to build trust. “By 2030, we want to cut the number of people in payment difficulties by half,” Beuting added.