On 1 October, gas became noticeably more expensive for many households in the Netherlands. According to the Dutch comparison site Keuze.nl, every supplier with a variable contract in its comparison raised its gas price, by 12.9 percent on average. Showering is one of the biggest gas users in the home. What does the rise mean for your shower, and what can you do about it?
What has changed?
- The average variable gas price is now around €1.80 per m³, and a fixed one-year contract around €1.71 on average (Keuze.nl, October 2026).
- Among variable contracts, the biggest rises included Greenchoice (from €1.50 to €1.82), Essent (from €1.57 to €1.85) and Energiedirect (from €1.55 to €1.83).
- Many fixed contracts also became more expensive. Check your own contract to see which tariff applies to you.
What does a shower cost now?
We calculated it with gas at €1.80 per m³, water at €1.82 per m³ (Vitens, 2026) and the rule of thumb that 1 m³ of gas heats about 220 litres of shower water.
| Shower head | Per minute | 9-minute shower | Per year* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 l/min | €0.08 | €0.72 | €263 |
| 12 l/min | €0.12 | €1.08 | €394 |
| 16 l/min | €0.16 | €1.44 | €526 |
*One person showering for 9 minutes every day. Our own calculation.
At 12 litres per minute and a 9-minute shower every day, that is about 180 m³ of gas per person per year. Every extra 10 cents per m³ then costs you about €18 per person per year. How to measure your own shower is explained in what does a shower cost?
5 ways to keep your shower affordable
- Shower for less time. According to Milieu Centraal, people in the Netherlands shower for about nine minutes on average. At 12 litres per minute, every minute less saves about 12 cents.
- Pause while soaping up. A pause button stops the water for a moment. Read how the pause button works.
- Measure your shower head. Do the bucket test. If your shower comes out above 10 litres per minute, a more economical head makes a big difference.
- Keep the head free of limescale. Blocked nozzles give a weak spray, so you unconsciously shower for longer. See removing limescale.
- Shower a degree cooler. The warmer the water, the more gas. One degree less saves roughly 3 to 4 percent of the gas for your shower (our own calculation, assuming cold water at 10 degrees and showering at 38 degrees).
A more economical head from Besjaar
The Besjaar Luxury Hand Shower uses a maximum of 8 litres per minute, with air in the spray for a full shower. If you replace a 12-litre-per-minute head, that saves about €130 per person per year in our example with a daily 9-minute shower. If you shower for less time or less often, the saving is smaller. The Besjaar Shower Head with Filter has a pause button to stop the water while you soap up.
Prices at the time of writing, 16 October 2026. Gas prices change; use the tariff on your own contract.
Besjaar makes shower heads and filters for Dutch bathrooms, from Assen. Better water, every day.