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ENERGY

Reader question: When should I turn on my heating in Switzerland this year?

Energy costs in Switzerland are set to reach sky-high levels this winter, which will leave many people wondering when they should start heating their homes.

Reader question: When should I turn on my heating in Switzerland this year?
19C is a good, energy-saving temperature. Photo by Arthur Lambillotte on Unsplash

The government announced in September that electricity prices will rise by a hefty 18 percent on average in 2024.

Tariffs could be even higher than the national average in various cantons and municipalities. For instance, Zurich residents can expect a 24.5-percent increase, in Geneva rates will go by 28.6 percent, and in Vaud, which has many electricity suppliers, hikes will range from 32 to over 40 percent.

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

This official map shows by how much electricity prices will go up in your community. 

However, higher prices and don’t eliminate the need to heat our homes during the coldest months of the year.

So when should you start heating?

While this wasn’t a concern during the summer heatwave — when most people were trying to find ways to cool off, not to get warmer — or at the beginning of October when the weather was still mild, it is an issue now that the weather has gotten colder in much of Switzerland.

When you can start turning on the heat depends on whether you are a tenant or a homeowner.

In the former case, you pretty much depend on your landlord.

The usual heating season in Switzerland, according to Homegate real estate plarform, runs from mid-September to mid-May, which means it is currently underway.

However, “as soon as the outside temperature drops below 14C, landlords are required to switch on the heating”, even if this happens before September 15th and after mid-May.

If, on the other hand, you own your home or apartment, you obviously have more leeway in terms of when you start and stop to heat your dwelling.

Generally speaking, the September-to-May rule carries some flexibility too. For instance, if you live in Ticino, temperatures may not drop below 14C until the end of autumn, so you may not need to heat your place as early as someone in, say, in the village of La Brévine near Neuchâtel, which is the coldest commune in the country.

What should you do if your landlord doesn’t turn on the heat on time?

According to Swiss Tenants Association (ASLOCA), you should complain to your landlord by a registered letter.

In the meantime, and for as long as there is no heat, you are entitled to request (and obtain) a reduction in rent to go into effect from the moment the landlord is notified of the situation.

At what temperature should your apartment or house be this winter?

While the threat of energy shortages is not as dire currently as it was in 2022, we are not totally out of the woods yet, and saving energy is a good idea regardless of the situation.

Government guidelines recommend that the room temperature should never exceed 20C. By reducing it by 1C, you save up to 10 percent of heating energy.

Also, the above temperatures generally apply from 7 am to 11 pm; the heating can be lowered at night to reduce fuel consumption.

The general consensus among experts, however, is that by lowering the indoor temperature to 19C, you could reduce your consumption (and bills) by 5 to 6 percent. 

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ENERGY

Switzerland’s renewable energy plan to be tested in referendum

Switzerland's largest wind farm, sitting astride the ridge of the Jura mountains by the French border, consists of only 16 turbines -- tiny compared to those of other European countries.

Switzerland's renewable energy plan to be tested in referendum

The country has said it wants to rapidly accelerate the development of renewable energy sources as it strives to meet its target of carbon neutrality by 2050.

Authorities want to use a new climate bill approved last year to boost wind and solar power’s current miniscule contribution to Switzerland’s energy mix.

But that plan could hit a snag: the bill is being challenged by a national referendum on Sunday, potentially blocking its implementation next January.

While most environmental organisations back the law and its ambitions, a few smaller groups secured enough signatures to trigger a referendum under Switzerland’s direct democracy system, amid fears it will fast-track large-scale energy projects and cause “unnecessary destruction of landscapes”.

Switzerland’s largest party, the hard right Swiss People’s Party (SVP), has also backed the vote, warning that implementing the law could threaten Swiss energy security.

“It is not with renewable energy produced on mountaintops in the Jura that we will manage to guarantee supply security,” Yvan Pahud, an SVP parliamentarian, told AFP.

The SVP supports more nuclear power instead.

Sacrificing nature? 

Pierre-Alain Bruchez, who instigated the referendum, balked at the idea of installing large numbers of solar panels high up in pristine mountain landscapes.

The retired economist said he launched his battle after learning with “horror” of the Grengiols-Solar project, aimed at installing around 230,000 solar panels in the mountainous Wallis canton, at an altitude of 2,500 metres.

“We must not sacrifice nature on the altar of climate change,” he told AFP.

Vera Weber, president of the Franz Weber Foundation for Nature and Animal Protection, which also called for the referendum, agreed.

“This law weakens the protection of nature in Switzerland,” she told AFP.

Despite such arguments, overturning the law could prove difficult.

Sunday’s vote will take place less than two months after Switzerland became the first country ever to be condemned by an international court for not doing enough against climate change.

The verdict by the European Court of Human Rights appears to have jolted the Swiss public, with 73 percent of voters polled recently saying they backed the law.

More positives than negatives 

The bill is aimed at rapidly increasing hydro, wind and solar production, and it clears the way for a simplified approval process for large-scale projects.

As for solar power, the main aim would be to install panels on building roofs and facades.

The Swiss government, which supports the law, has acknowledged that court appeals against renewable energy projects “will probably be less likely to succeed than before”.

However, it stresses that large installations in “biotopes of national importance” and in migratory bird reserves will remain banned, albeit with some exceptions.

WWF, which is among several environmental groups that support the law, highlighted that the bill calls for “over 80 percent of planned renewable energy development to go through solar on existing buildings”.

WWF expert Patrick Hofstetter added that “effective measures against electricity waste are finally being introduced”.

“From our point of view, the benefits of the project clearly outweigh” the negatives, he said. – Overcoming fossil fuel dependence –

Greenpeace’s Swiss chapter said the law could help Switzerland “overcome its dependence on fossil fuels like oil and gas, which often come from bellicose states”.

Jaqueline de Quattro, a parliamentarian with the Liberal party, agreed.

Switzerland, she pointed out, spends eight billion Swiss francs ($8.9 billion) a year “on undemocratic fossil imports like Russian gas, or oil from Arab countries”.

Given how reliant the Swiss are on the comforts energy brings, she told AFP, “we must also accept from time to time to see a wind turbine on the horizon”.

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