Swiss households and companies need significantly less electricity

In September, Swiss end consumers consumed a total of 3,710 gigawatt hours of electricity. That’s a 13 percent drop compared to the average of the last seven years, according to the latest statistics from network operator Swissgrid.

The energy-saving measures taken by the Federal Council at the end of August and the large-scale advertising campaign seem to be starting to bear fruit. Because in August there were almost no signs of savings. Final consumption fell only 2 percent within normal fluctuations.

Electricity production is increasing

However, end use does not include transmission losses and the energy required to run power plants. When all factors are taken into account, total consumption increased by 2.3 percent in a long-term comparison.

At the same time, electricity production rose to 5110 gigawatt hours. That’s 4.2 percent more than the average of the last few years. The additional electricity produced was mainly exported. Exports increased by 4.4 percent.

The biggest buyer of Swiss electricity was Italy, which rose nearly 10 percent to 1729 gigawatt hours. Exports to France rose quarter-on-quarter to almost 500 gigawatt-hours.

Exact numbers follow

Especially in winter, Switzerland imports more electricity than it exports. The main reason for this is limited hydropower capacity and significantly higher electricity demand during the dark months.

Data are based on information from 650 electricity supply companies in Switzerland. They report one month’s consumption data to Swissgrid. The transmission system operator summarizes them and publishes them over the next month.

As later published by the Swiss Federal Energy Office (SFOE), the exact electricity balance for Switzerland may differ slightly from Swissgrid data due to different recording methods. (SDA/smt)