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Tag: Tarife

  • Electricity tariffs 2023 also CKW must increase

    Electricity tariffs 2023 also CKW must increase

    In the past twelve months, global energy prices have risen massively. Electricity prices on the market have increased tenfold. In addition to the war in Ukraine, the main drivers are the after-effects of the corona pandemic and a lower availability of foreign power plants. These price increases lead to higher electricity procurement costs. In addition, there are also significantly higher costs for the national grid company Swissgrid for the transmission grid.

    As a result, CKW's energy and grid tariffs will increase in 2023, as will most energy suppliers in Switzerland. For a private customer with a medium power consumption, this results in an increase in the additional costs of around CHF 23 per month, for SMEs in the basic service with a medium power consumption they amount to around CHF 500 per month.

    The regulatory requirements require that both the company's own production and the procurement of electricity on the market are included in the price calculation. In times of rising market prices, this leads to higher tariffs. When market prices are low, this has a positive effect on electricity customers.

    The production of solar power is more worthwhile than ever
     On the other hand, the high prices are having a positive effect on solar power producers. Because the electricity fed into the grid is remunerated according to the SFOE reference market price, which is based on the market price. In the first half of 2022, this averaged 23.0 centimes per kilowatt hour. For comparison: two years earlier it was 3 centimes per kilowatt hour. The revenue from solar power has thus increased eightfold. An average 15 kWp solar system on the roof of a family home will generate an additional yield of over CHF 2,000 per year. The production of solar power is currently more worthwhile than ever.

    Current developments show how dependent Switzerland still is on other countries. The expansion of renewable energies is key to becoming more independent as a country.

    Tips for saving electricity
     With simple measures you can reduce your own electricity consumption and thus also the costs.• The generation of heat is one of the largest electricity consumers. It is therefore worth setting the heating correctly: in the living room to 20 degrees, in the bedroom to 16 degrees. You save 6 percent on heating costs for every degree lower in temperature.• Washing dishes in a full machine uses half as much energy as by hand.• Showering with water-saving attachments saves up to 50 percent water – and therefore also a lot of energy for hot water preparation.• Showering instead of bathing saves around 70 liters of water – or 65 centimes per shower.• Switching off the light when you don't need it is always worthwhile – even if it's only for a short time.• In Swiss households, around 10 percent of electricity is wasted, especially when it's not used through standby consumption. It is worth turning off devices such as TVs, game consoles, coffee machines, etc. when they are not in use. For example, with a socket strip that can be switched off.• Heating water in a kettle instead of in a pan uses about half as much energy.• Replacing conventional light bulbs or energy-saving lamps with LED lights can significantly reduce consumption.

    Source and other electricity saving tips www.ckw.ch/energiespartipps

  • When the current can be felt

    When the current can be felt

    Riccardo Pozzi is Head of Energy Management at Primeo Energie AG and responsible for procuring electricity, including for EKZ customers. To understand the price of electricity, you have to look at the prices for other energy sources. Because the price of electricity is closely linked to this. So let's look at the price of gas. Because it currently determines the electricity price and there is a lot to be read, seen and heard about it in the media: it is reaching record values. And a rapid price recovery is not yet in sight. "The reasons for this high gas price are, on the one hand, that the gas storage facilities could not be filled in the summer months," explains Riccardo Pozzi. The price of gas was already rising back then. In the hope of a price recovery, the annual filling of the gas storage facilities had been postponed. Added to the wait is the delayed commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. In the future, this will transport Russian gas directly to Germany via the Baltic Sea. However, political and legal issues have delayed commissioning until now. Thus, the demand is greater than the supply, which drives up the price on the market.

    dependence of the electricity price
     But what does the price of gas have to do with the price of electricity? Electricity is traded on various exchanges on the European electricity market. The price is determined by the most expensive technology used to generate electricity. This is because these power plants are deployed in the order of their marginal costs (variable costs). And so until the demand is met. The most expensive power plant used thus determines the price. This mechanism is expressed by the so-called "merit order curve".

    “Currently, it is mainly gas-fired power plants that determine the price,” explains the energy specialist. This explains the sharp rise in electricity prices. But there is another reason for the increase in electricity costs: CO2 certificates. Power plants have to purchase certificates for the CO2 emissions they produce. These are also traded and their prices are largely influenced by the EU. As a result of the EU's ambitious emission reduction targets, the prices for CO2 certificates have also risen.

    Electricity price prospects
     "Currently, business customers on the open market who are still without a contract, i.e. customers with a consumption of more than 100 MWh, are feeling the high electricity price very badly," says Riccardo Pozzi and adds: "Up to now, many customers have hoped that the prices would would go down." Customers in basic services would have it better. Because while business customers buy electricity at the current price, the price for customers with basic supply is made up of an average over two years. "Our customers will feel the effects of the current electricity price trend in 2023 and 2024 through a major price increase," explains Karl Resch, Head of Regulation Management and Network Management at EKZ. "Since we have hardly any own production in Switzerland and are therefore dependent on market prices, our price increase will be somewhat larger than that of energy suppliers who have a large proportion of their own production," adds the expert. And he says: "These companies tend to have higher electricity prices over the years, but they don't fluctuate as much". EKZ will also be one of the cheapest electricity suppliers in Switzerland in 2022. The extent to which electricity prices will increase in 2023 has not yet been determined. Because the tariffs will not be determined until summer 2022. However, EKZ continues to work to keep electricity prices as low as possible.

    Composition of the electricity price
     If you want to know how the electricity price is made up, read the article on energie-experten.ch by Claudio Maag, Deputy Head of Network Management and Regulatory Management at EKZ.