Swissgrid service costs drop, savings for households and companies

The costs for Swissgrid's services for an average household with an annual consumption of 4,500 kWh will fall from CHF 92 ($103) to CHF77 ($86) next year. KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE / PETER KLAUNZER

Swiss households will have to pay slightly less for the services of the national grid operator Swissgrid next year. The contributions to the costs of the federal government's electricity reserves will also fall.

The costs for Swissgrid’s services for an average household with an annual consumption of 4,500 kWh will fall from CHF92 ($103) to CHF77 ($86) next year, as the grid operator announced on Wednesday. This corresponds to around 5% of the total expected electricity costs. For a company with an annual consumption of 90,000 kWh, this would result in savings of CHF300 per year.

External costs fall

The reason for the reduction is lower costs for general system services and active power losses. These are largely dependent on external factors that Swissgrid cannot influence, such as price trends on the electricity markets.

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These savings are offset by catch-up effects: This is because Swissgrid has to reduce shortfalls from 2022 and 2023 that arose due to the high prices on the electricity markets.

However, the tariffs for grid utilisation will remain stable. Swissgrid uses these to finance its core business: the renewal, expansion and maintenance of the grid as well as the operation and monitoring from the control centres. The tariff for reactive energy also remains the same.

Less expensive electricity reserves

At the same time, the costs for the federal government’s electricity reserves are also likely to fall, by CHF43 for an average household with an annual consumption of 4,500 kWh. The reason for this is the “significantly lower expected costs” for the hydropower reserve, it said.

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For a company with an expected annual consumption of 90,000, this would mean a saving of CHF860. Since 2024, electricity consumers have had to pay the costs of the federal government’s electricity reserves. These include the hydropower reserve, the reserve power plants and the emergency power groups. They are calculated via Swissgrid.

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Adapted from German by DeepL/amva

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