VoltVillage
Customer guide

Trading sunshine with the people next door

VoltVillage lets neighbours share rooftop solar with each other. Nobody lays a new cable: the electricity keeps flowing over the public grid, while we match surplus to demand using smart-meter data and settle the money. Below, first the concept, then exactly what you do in the app.

Platform fee

0.5 – 1.5%

per match, depending on your plan

Where the money stays

In your street

instead of a national utility

Settlement

Instant

wallet-to-wallet on every trade

1 · How energy sharing actually works

No new wires — a digital ledger on top of the public grid

Nobody strings a cable to the house next door. Your surplus solar flows into the public grid as usual and your neighbour draws power from that same grid. What VoltVillage does is match the two on paper, in the 15-minute intervals European grids already bill in, so the value goes to your neighbour instead of a corporate margin.

The three layers

  • Smart-meter data. A small P1-port reader (about €20) streams your meter's export and import readings every few seconds.
  • Cloud matching. Per 15-minute window we match exported kilowatt-hours from solar households to imported kilowatt-hours from buyers on the same local grid.
  • Settlement via a licensed BRP. Aggregated interval data is sent to a Balance Responsible Party or partner supplier, who books those kilowatt-hours as peer-to-peer energy on the official grid ledger and adjusts both invoices.

Where the savings come from

A utility typically buys your solar at around €0.06/kWh and resells it at €0.31/kWh. Matching locally lets both households meet in the middle: the seller earns several times the buy-back rate, the buyer pays well under retail, and VoltVillage takes only a 1.5% processing fee (less on a paid plan). Grid transport fees and energy taxes still apply as normal.

VoltVillage is not a licensed energy supplier and does not need to be. The EU Electricity Directive gives citizens in every member state the right to share energy locally; national law implements that right — in the Netherlands through the peer-to-peer trader role in the 2026 Energy Act. Platforms like this register as digital administrators of exchanges between active consumers and work with licensed balancing partners, which is why the model scales beyond one country. Read the full FAQ on the support page or contact us for details.

2 · What happens in the app

1 · Your panels make more than you use
On sunny days your rooftop system produces surplus kilowatt-hours. Instead of pushing them to the utility for a low buy-back rate, you list them on your micro-grid.
2 · A neighbour buys your surplus
Neighbours on the same local grid see your listing with the price per kWh and how much is available. They buy the amount they need in one tap.
3 · Payment settles instantly
The buyer pays from their VoltVillage wallet and the credits land in the seller's wallet immediately — no monthly billing cycle, no waiting for the utility.
4 · Cash out to your bank
Sellers add their own name and IBAN once, then request a withdrawal whenever their balance is above the minimum. Money is paid out to that account.

3 · Under the hood: how it runs automatically

VoltVillage does not talk to individual meters or hold your money in a company account. It plugs into proven, regulated infrastructure — three building blocks that do the heavy lifting:

1 · Reading the smart meters
When you sign up, you give the platform permission to read your meter. A small P1-port reader (or a certified meter-data aggregator) sends a clean export/import figure to the platform every 15 minutes: how much you exported to the grid, how much you drew from it.
2 · The matchmaker rule
Every 15 minutes an automated matcher sums all exported solar within your local grid area and assigns it to active buyers in that same window. Each match is written to the ledger: e.g. “3 kWh virtually transferred from A to B at €0.15/kWh — €0.45.”
3 · The money flows
Money never sits in VoltVillage's own bank account. Payments run through a regulated payment partner: the buyer's wallet is debited, the platform fee is split off automatically, and the remainder lands in the seller's wallet — ready to withdraw to their own IBAN.

Common questions

Ready to join your micro-grid?

Create an account, top up a wallet or list your first surplus kilowatt-hours.

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