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ENERGY

Which Swiss cantons will see the biggest hikes in electricity bills?

Consumers in Switzerland already know that electricity prices will increase from January 2023 and new info has revealed where in the country energy costs will rise the most and by how much.

Published: 31 August 2022 15:50 CEST
Updated: 23 September 2022 10:54 CEST
Which Swiss cantons will see the biggest hikes in electricity bills?
The lightbulb moment: putting on light will cost you more in 2023. Photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, a predicted gas shortage, and inflation, electricity prices are expected to leap more or less substantially in Switzerland over the coming months — ranging from 20 percent for some households to over 60 percent for others.

Price disparities among the nearly 600 Swiss electricity suppliers are significant, so the amount of the increase will depend not only on your place of residence and the size of your dwelling, but also on the production capacity of the local electricity provider.

According to a report by RTS public broadcaster, “some own many power stations and produce the electricity they sell themselves. They are therefore much less dependent on the European market. Conversely, those who produce no kilowatt-hours are now bearing the full brunt of the energy crisis”.

READ MORE: Switzerland faces 20 percent increase in electricity costs

These are the expected hikes in various Swiss regions:

Vaud, Lausanne, Geneva

“Amid the surge in electricity prices, Romande Energie has had no choice but to raise its regulated electricity tariffs effective 1 January 2023”, the company, which supplies power to parts of western Switzerland, said in a press release on Wednesday, calling the increases “historical”.

The company goes to say that tariffs for 2023 “will increase by between 49 percent for the vast majority of our household customers, and 61 percent for customers with specific modes of consumption” — meaning those who use a lot of energy.

This appears to be one of the biggest increases in Switzerland.

This link provides more information about the expected hikes based on your residence in Vaud.

Electrical bills will go up in other parts of the French-speaking Switzerland as well, though to a lesser degree — in Geneva, prices will go up by 22 percent on average for customers of Geneva Industrial Services (SIG), and in Lausanne, Lausanne Industrial Services will raise them by 26 percent over the current rates.

Basel, Zug, Zurich

Clients of the Basel-based energy supply company Primeo Energie will have to pay much more for electricity in the coming year — between 42 and 46 percent, making the canton the second, after Vaud, in terms of energy costs, according to Watson news portal.

The Zug energy provider WWZ will charge nearly 39 percent more, while EKZ in Zurich will raise its rates by ‘only’ 26 percent — a relatively low increase, considering that Zurich is Switzerland’s most expensive city.

If you want to know what you can expect for next year, contact your local power company and ask for the 2023 tariffs for your area.

And this link shows you electricity prices throughout Switzerland.

Can you change your electricity supplier?

You can only change supplier if you move to another area serviced by another provider.

If you remain where you are, then you are stuck with the same company.

READ MORE: How energy shortages could hit daily life in Switzerland

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SHOPPING

REVEALED : Are ‘discount’ supermarkets in Switzerland really cheaper?

Lidl, Aldi and Denner claim their prices beat those of large Swiss retailers. But is this really the case?

Published: 18 April 2024 11:40 CEST
Updated: 1 May 2024 06:35 CEST
REVEALED : Are ‘discount’ supermarkets in Switzerland really cheaper?

Common consumer goods (except one) are typically more expensive in Switzerland than in neighbour countries — sometimes by much.

This includes food.

READ ALSO: Why Switzerland is the most expensive country in Europe

That is especially the case of largest Swiss chains, Migros and Coop, while Denner, Lidl, and Aldi say their food prices are significantly lower.

To find out whether this claim is actually true, journalists from RTS public broadcaster’s consumer programme went shopping in each of these supermarkets. 

They purchased the same 30 products in each of the five supermarkets on the same day, to ensure that the price comparison is as accurate as possible.

Not what you’d expect

In each of the stores, the investigators purchased only the lowest priced items from the supermarkets’ budget lines.

It turned out that most money was spent at Denner, widely considered to be one of the lowest-priced supermarkets.

The total for the 30 items came to 181.67 francs — more than was spent at the country’s more expensive stores, Migros and Coop, where identical basket of goods cost 170.37 and 167.82 francs, respectively.

(That, in itself, is surprising as well, because Migros typically has lower prices than Coop).

As for the other two supermarkets, these purchases cost 166.59 francs at Aldi and 162.05 at Lidl.

So the difference in price between Migros and Coop versus Aldi and Lidl is minimal. But what is even more surprising is that the cost of groceries at ‘cheap’ Denner is actually highest of the lot, by between 11 and nearly 20 francs.

Migros and Coop performed quite well in the comparison survey because most of the items purchased in those stores came from their budget lines, M-Budget and Prix-Garantie, respectively, both of which were introduced to compete with Aldi and Lidl.

But how important is price? Patrick Krauskopf, a professor of anti-trust law, told RTS: “German, French, English, Spanish and American consumers pay a lot of attention to price. In Switzerland, consumers place more emphasis on quality of service. Price is almost secondary.

“Distributors have realised this and have stopped competing fiercely on price.”

Big versus small

While this particular analysis focused on supermarket chains, another survey, conducted at the end of 2023, looked at prices in small grocery shops. 

Common logic has it that it is cheaper to shop in supermarkets than a local corner store, because big retailers purchase products in large quantities, which means lower prices for consumers.

However, prices in some local shops were found to be “up to 30 percent cheaper than Migros and Coop.” 

The reason is that in order to cut costs, small grocers may buy their products from the most cost-effective suppliers, a tactic which includes importing some items.

Another reason for lower prices is that unlike major supermarkets, which ‘pretty up’ their stores for better presentation of products, these small retailers are ‘no-frill’ shops. This means little money is invested in décor, so there are no extra costs to pass on to consumers.

 READ ALSO: Why it might be cheaper to avoid the big supermarkets in Switzerland
 

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