After electricity hike: Price watcher calls for cuts in grid prices

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This service has it all! Next year, electricity prices will increase by 18 percent on average. High health insurance premiums and rents are also rising significantly. This worries many Swiss people. Price watcher Stefan Meierhans (54) is therefore very clear: The price of Uff is too high!

One of the reasons for constantly increasing tariffs is network tariffs. Providers may charge their customers for this. And so they recoup the infrastructure costs. Urgent action is needed for the price monitor.

«Network operators have a monopoly»

“We have an inflation caused by energy prices. VAT will also be increased in 2024. Instead of reducing network tariffs, the Federal Council will allow higher compensation for capital used from 2024,” he tells Blick.

To be specific: network fees will increase by 57 million francs in 2024. But the price watcher sees potential savings of CHF 150 million per year. “The network operators have a monopoly,” he says. Even if the electricity market is liberalized, electricity will continue to flow through the same networks. In other words: “The person who invests in the electricity grids takes almost no risk.” And get a 7 percent return on equity. The price monitor finds this too much.

Meierhans therefore asks the Federal Council to reduce this profit, which it can do on its own. Network costs will continue to be covered. However, the increase in electricity prices will be less in the coming years.

Source :Blick