All the answers about the new solar subscription: Migros wants to go to the roof of Switzerland

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“The Migros think tank has developed another innovative and sustainable business model,” the retailer said in a statement Wednesday. Migros once again makes a name for itself with full disclosure: According to its own statements, the retailer launched “the biggest product innovation in the company’s history” with Coffee B last September. Aluminum and plastic-free coffee balls were a challenge for competitors like Nespresso.

What is it about this time? Migros wants to activate the energy market with its subscription model solar systems and thus “contribute to the global energy and climate crisis”. Is it cheaper to rent or buy? And what happens to the system after the contract expires? Blick answers the most important questions.

Migros offers subscription-based solar energy systems with its new venture, Rayo. Landlords pay a flat monthly fee. The subscription has a term of 20 years. With solar power from their own roofs, customers should save on electricity costs. Homeowners can feed excess electricity into the power grid and charge a feedback fee for it. If you wish, you can complete the solar energy package with battery storage. In this way, customers should be able to meet up to 70 percent of their electricity needs.

Installing a solar power system on the roof quickly costs tens of thousands of francs. Money that not all homeowners have to spare. The initial investment deters many people. Currently, only ten percent of single-family homes in the country have solar panels installed on the roofs. With solar energy subscription, investment costs are now completely eliminated. Rayo also handles disclosure, planning, installation, maintenance, repair and insurance. As the seller puts it, “an all-round carefree package”.

Providers like Otovo, Younergy or Helion have been offering rental solar panels for a long time. Owners can also purchase heat pumps on a subscription basis. Rayo’s solar subscription isn’t all that new after all. And retailers have also been in the electricity market for several years. Fenaco entered the solar business in 2015. The agricultural cooperative is well known for its approximately 270 Landi branches in the country. The company, through its subsidiary Agrola, installs large solar power systems in barns and barns on farms.

For a 60 square meter solar system, Rayo estimates monthly costs at 179 to 229 francs. Including battery storage, costs soar between 279 and 329 francs. Also, if you have a charging station installed for your electric car, you have to calculate between CHF 339 and 389 per month. Subscription fees vary by region, as Swiss cantons subsidize solar systems very differently and investment costs also vary widely.

Subscriptions are financially attractive to providers: for customers, this means that they pay more for the entire contract period than if they initially purchased the solar system themselves. Subscription models are very popular in cars now: You pay 10 to 15 percent more if you rent your car. A tax deduction can also be claimed for a purchase.

This is arranged differently for each provider: Helion allows the host to use the system for free after the end of the contract. The company is part of the Amag Group, which has been operating in the automobile trade since 2022. If the customer does not want to buy at Rayo, the system is disassembled again at the end of the contract period. The purchase price is based on the market price at which the residual value of a 20-year solar system would be quite low.

Anyone who sells their home with a solar subscription has two options: buy the system from Rayo at market value or pass the subscription to the new owner.

Source :Blick