As the closing act of the year closure, EREs that may not be saved into a following year lapse. Anyone holding surplus EREs after their obligations may carry over only a limited quantity on 1 April.

What is the savings limit?

The NEa establishes per compliance year which limited quantity of EREs may be carried over to the following year on 1 April. Check the current limit with the NEa — it is not unlimited and can differ per year.

Why are my EREs from January–April not credited immediately?

For renewable energy delivered between 1 January and 1 May and registered in that same period, the REV does not credit the EREs directly. That happens after 1 May, once the year closure of the previous year has taken place.

Which three dates should I remember?

Last working day before 1 March: final registration date for the previous year. 1 April: the savings limit is applied. 1 May: the verification statement for the previous year must be processed in the REV.

Year closure and savings limit: prevent EREs from expiring

Anyone accumulating EREs must pass through one mandatory gate per year: the year closure. That is the set of actions registrants, verifiers and the NEa perform at the start of the calendar year to comply with the legal requirements. Anyone treating the year closure as an administrative detail risks the unintended loss of tradable EREs.

The three dates that define your ERE year

Last working day before 1 March — final registration date. All deliveries from the previous calendar year must be registered in the REV by then. For 2026 deliveries that is 26 February 2027. After that, registration is definitively impossible: unregistered deliveries never yield EREs again.

1 April — the savings limit. If you hold surplus EREs after surrendering for your obligations, only a limited quantity may be carried over to the next compliance year. Those are the saved EREs. Everything above the savings limit lapses at the year closure. The NEa publishes the applicable limit; by definition it is not unlimited.

1 May — the verification deadline. The results of the registration verification covering the previous year must be processed in the REV by the verifier. Without a timely verification statement you do not meet the conditions.

The crediting mechanism in the first quarter

A common surprise: registrations in the period 1 January to 1 May are not credited immediately. The REV credits those EREs only after 1 May, once the year closure of the previous year has been completed.

Practical consequence: anyone registering in the first quarter and wanting to trade those EREs immediately has to wait. And anyone counting on early crediting to meet a surrender obligation of their own is in for a disappointment. Plan sales and coverage decisions around this mechanism.

The NEa can also suspend crediting in case of deviations from the registration profile or other irregularities — an additional reason to keep the file consistent.

How to prevent losses: four habits

Register continuously, not in one final sprint. Anyone parking everything on the 1 March deadline has no room left to repair deviations. Monthly or quarterly registration turns the year closure into a formality.
Run a pre-calculation in October. How many EREs are on the account, how many are still coming, how many are needed for obligations, and how large a surplus threatens to exceed the savings limit? Then there is still time to sell.
Sell before the year closure what you cannot save. EREs above the savings limit are worth nothing after the closure; beforehand they are tradable. The market knows this too — waiting until March depresses the price.
Treat verification as a continuous process. A verifier still raising file questions in April will not make 1 May. Build the evidence file so that verification is a confirmation, not a treasure hunt.

The role of the service provider

With outsourced registration, the annual calendar is a shared responsibility: the service provider monitors registration rhythm and deadlines, pre-calculates the annual surplus and times sales in consultation. The savings limit becomes a planning parameter instead of an annual surprise.

Sources

This article is based on the NEa guidance at Registering renewable energy for transport (consulted August 2026). The exact savings limit and year-closure instructions per compliance year are available from the NEa; companies in the scheme also receive preparatory information directly.