The Swiss Federal Council has adopted a second set of ordinances to implement the Federal Act on a Secure Electricity Supply from Renewable Energy Sources. The new regulations, set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, cover energy communities and minimum remuneration.
The regulations encourage self-consumption and the storage of solar production peaks to ease pressure on the electricity grid. They also set new remuneration tariffs based on a realistic share of self-consumption, with PV system operators encouraged to expand self-consumption through storage batteries or electromobility.
For PV systems up to 30 kW, the minimum fee is CHF 6 ($0.0669)/kWh. Systems between 30 kW and 150 kW qualify for a tariff of CHF 6.2/kWh. The ordinances allow energy communities to sell self-produced electricity locally – within a district or municipality – through the public grid.
The Electricity Supply Ordinance (ESO) defines the minimum capacity for production facilities within an energy community and the grid levels to which participants can connect. Self-generated electricity sold within a community will benefit from a reduced grid usage tariff. The ESO provides a reduction of 40% or, if several grid levels are used, 20%.
The Swissolar trade union said incentives for local consumption remain too low.
“The Federal Council must increase the discount at the next opportunity, in order to reduce the need for grid expansion,” it said.
The new provisions require utilities to incentivize flexible end consumers to adjust electricity use based on grid load, reducing strain. Dynamic or location-differentiated network usage tariffs will now be permitted, allowing consumers to optimize consumption, production, and storage.
Network operators will remain responsible for metering systems in their service areas. They must now set metering tariffs based on the causality principle and publish them. Metering and network usage fees will appear separately on customer bills. Utilities must also inform end consumers of their electricity consumption trends, including comparisons with the previous year and their customer group’s average.
Distribution system operators can now set maximum feed-in power at the connection point, reducing delays in connecting solar systems and limiting grid expansions. Solar system operators can store excess power in batteries or electric vehicles. Any imposed limitation must be compensated for if it results in more than a 3% annual yield loss.
Under certain conditions, remuneration for grid use can now be reimbursed for storage batteries, including stationary units and bidirectional charging for electric vehicles.
“The new regulations encourage the temporary storage of solar production peaks, which helps relieve the electricity grids,” said Swissolar.
Switzerland installed approximately 1.78 GW of new PV capacity in 2024, according to provisional figures from Swissolar. This marked an increase from 1.64 GW in 2023 and 1.08 GW in 2022, making 2024 a record year for new installations. However, Swissolar said it does not expect this growth to continue in 2025 and 2026, forecasting annual additions of 1.51 GW and 1.56 GW, respectively.
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The article mentiones wrong tarif numbers.
Corrected it would say:
“For PV systems up to 30 kW, the minimum fee is CHF 0.06 ($0.0669)/kWh. Systems [without self-consumption] between 30 kW and 150 kW qualify for a tariff of CHF 0.062/kWh.”
Source: https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-104172.html