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The way in which humanity is sourcing its energetic requirements to fulfill the economic activities is experiencing a drastic transformation, this is characterized by a potentialized electrification trend in every industrial sector, and by intermittent renewable energy sources (IRES) carrying the decarbonization of the power sector. Given the uncertain unfolding of both cross-border power interconnectivity (XBIC) and decentralized demand-side response (DDSR), an integrational study is proposed to understand their impact and interaction within the energy system of the Netherlands. Here, after proposing and successfully implementing a novel electricity dispatch methodology within the PBL’s energy system integration model (ENSYSI), a series of exploratory scenarios were performed with combinations of different deployment levels of IRES, XBIC, and DDSR. Important observations are provided, such as the breach of national emission targets in all scenarios. Moreover the indirect impact of the scenario variations in other sectors (e.g. the heat and hydrogen sectors), are exposed. Findings in this study indicates that both DDSR and more strongly XBIC, have the potential to alleviate the increased costs of the decarbonization significantly. Furthermore, an analysis to show the lack of market alignment of DDSR as the root of a lower cost mitigation potential relative to XBIC is provided. Based on the findings, a demand-side response mechanism coordinating with the market is proposed as a promising topic for future research, as a means to further reduce the expected transitional cost.