In 2024 it will become 18 percent more expensive: politicians are partly responsible for the electricity price debacle

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Households will have to spend on average almost a fifth more on electricity next year. An average household will then pay 523 francs more than five years ago.

The various reasons for the hammer on electricity prices have been discussed up and down in recent days. Only one thing was left out: the role of politics in the entire disaster.

The Council of States was against consumers

It was Parliament that in 2017, under pressure from the electricity companies, deteriorated a actually good electricity market law. At the expense of consumers who – unlike large customers – are trapped in basic services and cannot freely choose their provider.

The reason for the deterioration was a federal court ruling that would have protected consumers from higher rates. The Council of States did not like that. He changed the law to remove the effect of the ruling.

Therefore, it is now possible for electricity suppliers to charge households for expensive market electricity and to charge independent large customers for cheap electricity from their own power stations. At the time, Councilor Beat Vonlanthen (66), who had since been voted out, was in charge. At the same time he held a high position in the electricity sector.

Leuthard warned – in vain

Former federal councilor Doris Leuthard (60) foresaw how negative the change in the law would be for households. In the Council of States she even addressed the conscience of the electricity lobby parliamentarians: ‘Your solution is good for the grid operators, they will say gratefully: I only pass on the disadvantages to the households, the advantages then belong to my coffers. .” The change in the law was “discriminatory and not fair,” said the then CVP Minister of Energy. “I want to make it clear here that this is not very sensible from our point of view.”

But Leuthard did not make himself heard. Since then, there has been a two-tiered system when it comes to billing energy costs, with households always being the stupid ones: if the international electricity price is high (today), it affects them more. If the international electricity price is low (before Corona), you have less of it.

The goal: attract major customers

Regulator Elcom criticized exactly this a few months ago: the increases in electricity rates for 2023 were mainly justified by higher prices for purchasing expensive electricity on the market. But that’s only half the truth. For some electricity suppliers, the rate increase is also the result of a changed billing method. Cheap electricity from own production, which was previously mainly sold to households as a basic supply, has been partly replaced by more expensive market electricity, the authority writes.

Electricity suppliers do this to attract large customers with the cheapest possible rates. Because, unlike households, they can change when it doesn’t suit them. Elcom speaks of a “profit-optimizing strategy at the expense of end users in basic services”, which the current law allows.

An electric hammer would hit less hard

Politicians would do well to undo the electricity lobby’s 2017 legislative changes: a sentence could then be added to Article 4(1) of the Electricity Supply Regulation. For example: “If market prices exceed production costs, the tariff share will be based on production costs.”

The result: electricity suppliers with their own power plants should prioritize charging private households for their cheaper own production. The price increase would not be an issue for households. But at least somewhat toned down.

Source:Blick