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How much more will you pay for electricity in your Swiss canton?

The Swiss government has released new electricity tariffs for 2024. They vary considerably from one Swiss region to another.

Published: 5 September 2023 16:36 CEST

How much more will you pay for electricity in your Swiss canton?

How much it will cost to burn one of these will depend on where you live. Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

In 2024, electricity prices will increase by an average of around 18 percent for households, the Federal Electricity Commission (ElCom) announced on Tuesday.

As a general indication, this means a typical household that consumes 4,500 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year will pay 32.14 centimes per kWh on average, which would add up to 222 francs more over 12 months.

READ ALSO: Swiss government announces new electricity rate hike of 18 percent

However, rates vary more or less significantly in and among cantons and municipalities, some exceeding the national average by far.

The amount of the increase in your community 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.

How much can you expect to pay in your town or region?

According to a map published on the ElCom website, which you can view here, the highest hikes (more than 45 percent) will hit several municipalities in canton Bern.

The region of Aubonne in canton Vaud will see an increase of over 41 percent, as will parts of Neuchâtel.

In Switzerland’s most expensive cities, on the other hand, increases will not be as drastic — though still above the national average: Zurich residents will see their tariffs go up by 24.5 percent, while those living in Geneva will have to pay 28.6 more.

In Basel, they will increase by 33.9 percent.

Where will the hikes be lowest?

Residents of Brusio in Graubünden will have to pay rates that are well below the national average: 12.4 percent.

Those living in the same canton but in the town of Bregaglia, will see their electric bill go up by 15.9 percent.

And still above the national average but lower than in many other parts of Switzerland is the region of Zermatt in Valais, where tariffs will rise by 19.4 percent.

You can see here how your community rates in terms of …rates.

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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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