# Electricity Market 2026: Dynamic Tariffs and the Gap Between Purchase and Feed-in

Since 2021 the Swiss electricity market has moved in two directions for PV operators: the energy component for commercial customers (ElCom category C4) rose in the median from 6.97 to 15.20 Rp./kWh in 2024 and stands at 11.28 Rp./kWh in 2026, while the feed-in tariff fell to the legal minimum. Since 2026 the quarterly Referenzmarktpreis (reference market price) applies, from 2027 the hourly spot price. Businesses that consume, store and price-control their electricity escape this gap.

Commercial electricity price doubled since 2021, feed-in tariff at the minimum, hourly spot price from 2027: what dynamic tariffs mean for PV operators from 100 kWp.

Kanonische Seite: https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/electricity-market-2026-dynamic-tariffs/
Veröffentlicht: 2026-09-08

**Key Takeaways**

- **Purchase price more than doubled:** The energy component for commercial customers (ElCom C4) rose in the median from 6.97 Rp./kWh (2021) to 15.20 Rp./kWh (2024) and stands at 11.28 Rp./kWh in 2026.
- **Feed-in at the legal minimum:** Since 2026 the quarterly reference market price applies. The minimum remuneration is 6 Rp./kWh below 30 kW; a 150 kW system with self-consumption receives a calculated 1.2 Rp./kWh (EnV Art. 12).
- **Hourly spot price from 2027:** From 1 January 2027 the feed-in remuneration follows the day-ahead price in the hour of feed-in. In April and May 2026 the Swiss market counted 150 hours with negative prices.
- **Dynamic tariffs since 2026:** EKZ sends price signals every 15 minutes, CKW varies the grid tariff between 0.1 and 32 Rp./kWh. Active users at EKZ save around 5 percent on average.

Since 2021 the electricity market has turned against the classic feed-in logic. In 2026 commercial customers pay a median of 11.28 Rp./kWh for the energy component (ElCom), while operators of large rooftop systems often receive only the statutory minimum remuneration for their surplus. This gap is the central argument for [self-consumption](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/eigenverbrauch/), storage and price-controlled operation. This article sets out the figures, the rules from 2026 and 2027 and the options for systems from 100 kWp.

## How has the electricity price for businesses developed since 2021?

The purchase price has more than doubled, while the feed-in tariff has fallen to its lowest level in six years.

The ElCom electricity price map shows the following medians of the energy component for category C4, a commercial business with 500'000 kWh annual consumption (source: [ElCom electricity price map](https://www.strompreis.elcom.admin.ch/map)):

- **6.97 Rp./kWh** — Energy component 2021, median ElCom category C4 (500'000 kWh/year)
- **15.20 Rp./kWh** — Energy component 2024, peak of the series (ElCom)
- **11.28 Rp./kWh** — Energy component 2026; already published for 2027: 10.88 Rp./kWh (ElCom)

In between came 2022 at 7.29, 2023 at 12.26 and 2025 at 13.04 Rp./kWh. The maximum values of individual grid areas reached 48.50 Rp./kWh in 2023 according to ElCom. Anyone looking only at the energy component underestimates the effect: the total C4 tariff including grid usage and levies rose from 17.62 Rp./kWh (2021) to 23.66 Rp./kWh (2026), a rise of 34 percent.

On the other side of the ledger stands the remuneration for fed-in solar electricity. The Pvtarif map of the association of independent energy producers VESE shows the trend for systems of 150 to 250 kWp: in 2022 and 2023 the tariffs across much of Switzerland sat in the top band of the scale, in 2026 almost everywhere in the bottom band. For a business with a PV system that means: every kilowatt-hour fed into the grid is now worth a fraction of what the same kilowatt-hour costs to buy.

## Why does the gas price set the Swiss electricity price?

Switzerland generates around 60 percent of its electricity from hydropower and just under 30 percent from nuclear (BFE 2024), but depends on imports from the EU in winter.

The European power exchanges follow the [merit order](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/merit-order/) principle: power plants are ranked by their marginal cost, and the most expensive plant still needed to meet demand sets the price for all (source: [VSE, electricity market and trading](https://www.strom.ch/de/wissen/strommarkt-und-stromhandel)). In many hours those are gas or coal plants. The gas price in turn has historically and logistically followed the oil price.

That is why geopolitical crises hit heating oil, fuel and electricity at the same time. According to TCS, the diesel price reached a record of CHF 2.40 per litre in June 2022 and climbed again to a peak of CHF 2.27 per litre in mid-August 2026. Brent crude traded at 105 US dollars per barrel on 23 July 2026 according to the EIA. The energy component of category C4 traces this movement with a delay: the jump from 7.29 to 12.26 Rp./kWh fell in tariff year 2023, which reflects procurement during the 2022 energy crisis.

For PV operators this is a strategic finding: the purchase price hangs on markets the business cannot influence. The share of self-generated electricity is the only lever that reduces this dependence for good.

## What changes in the feed-in remuneration in 2026 and 2027?

Since 1 January 2026 the remuneration for fed-in solar electricity has followed the [Referenzmarktpreis](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/referenzmarktpreis/) (reference market price), a quarterly average calculated by the BFE. From 1 January 2027 the hourly spot price applies.

> **Minimum remuneration under Art. 12 EnV (since 1 January 2026)**
>
> Systems below 150 kW receive a statutory minimum remuneration: 6 Rp./kWh for systems below 30 kW. For systems from 30 kW with self-consumption, 6 Rp./kWh is paid on the first 30 kW and nothing above that; at 150 kW that works out at 1.2 Rp./kWh. Systems from 30 kW without self-consumption receive 6.2 Rp./kWh. Guarantees of origin are remunerated separately. From 1 January 2027 the minimum is paid out as a quarterly difference payment under Art. 12a EnV.
>
> Source: [EnV Art. 12 para. 1bis, Fedlex (German)](https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/2017/763/20260101/de/html/fedlex-data-admin-ch-eli-cc-2017-763-20260101-de-html-3.html)

For systems from 150 kW the minimum remuneration does not apply. Their surplus is settled at the reference market price unless the grid operator offers a different model. Distribution grid operators may still pay different tariffs, for instance a constant remuneration independent of the time of feed-in, based on cantonal or municipal decisions.

On 27 May 2026 the Federal Council decided the next step: from 1 January 2027 the feed-in remuneration follows the Swiss day-ahead spot price in the hour of actual feed-in (EnG Art. 15 para. 1bis, [Federal Council press release](https://www.admin.ch/de/newnsb/dG_O0Uyp3C3luCjhuCUpR)). What counts is no longer the quarterly average but the hour. And the midday hours, when PV systems deliver most, are the lowest-priced hours of the day on sunny days. In April and May 2026 the Swiss day-ahead market recorded 150 hours with negative prices (EPEX).

EKZ will switch existing systems to the dynamic purchase remuneration on 1 January 2027 or 1 January 2028, depending on the status of the smart meter roll-out. Anyone feeding in at midday today should factor this switch into the economic calculation. What the purchase obligation since 2026 means for new buildings is covered in the article [Solar obligation and the 70 percent feed-in rule](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/solar-obligation-70-percent-feed-in-rule-2026/).

## How do dynamic tariffs work at EKZ, CKW and ewz?

The large utilities are gradually replacing the rigid high and low tariff structure with [dynamic tariffs](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/dynamischer-tarif/) that tie the price to the exchange and to grid load.

**EKZ** has offered a combined dynamic optional tariff since 1 January 2026. The price signal changes every 15 minutes. The energy tariff moves in a band of plus or minus 5 Rp./kWh around the standard tariff, the grid tariff in a band from minus 5 to plus 15 Rp./kWh. The basis is the day-ahead spot market price for energy and the grid load forecast for grid usage. EKZ puts a number on the saving: anyone who actively controls a heat pump, charging station or storage by the signal saves around 5 percent on average compared with the standard tariff ([EKZ, dynamic optional tariffs](https://www.ekz.ch/de/blue/wissen/2026/dynamische-wahltarife-2027.html)).

**CKW** introduced a dynamic grid tariff for businesses on 1 January 2026 under the name «Netz business dynamic». The grid tariff moves between 0.1 and 32 Rp./kWh. Combined with an energy management system, the price signals control battery storage and charging stations so that the grid is relieved; CKW cites up to 40 percent lower grid costs ([CKW, dynamic tariff](https://www.ckw.ch/energie/strom/dynamischer-tarif-fuer-privatkunden-und-unternehmen)).

**ewz** has been testing weekly fixed high and low tariff periods since spring 2026 in a pilot with around 650 customers charging electric vehicles at home; the periods are derived from the expected grid load and announced in advance ([ewz, press release](https://www.ewz.ch/de/ueber-ewz/newsroom/medienmitteilungen/2026/stromtarife_bleiben_2027_stabil.html)). This model is not yet available for commercial customers.

What the three models have in common: the price becomes the control variable. Without controllable loads, a dynamic tariff brings nothing. With storage, charging infrastructure and an [energy management system](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/energiemanagementsystem/) it becomes a source of revenue.

## What role does the StromVG play for businesses above 100 MWh?

The rules for purchase and feed-in are set out in two acts: the Energy Act governs subsidies, self-consumption, the purchase obligation and the reference market price; the [Electricity Supply Act (StromVG)](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/stromvg/) governs the grid. For businesses with a PV system, the StromVG decides three things.

First, **grid access**: anyone purchasing more than 100 MWh per year has been free to choose their supplier since 2009 and can conclude energy contracts with price profiles that fit storage and EMS; anyone below that stays in the basic supply at the distribution grid operator's tariff ([Fedlex, SR 734.7](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2007/418/de)). Second, the **grid usage tariff**: it remains regulated even for free customers, is monitored by ElCom and includes the demand charge on the quarter-hour peak, which no change of supplier reduces, but [peak shaving](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/peak-shaving/) does. Third, since 2026, the **local electricity community**: Art. 17d and 17e StromVG allow trading in locally produced electricity over the public grid within a municipality, with a reduced grid usage tariff on the LEG electricity (Art. 18 para. 3 StromVG). For businesses with a midday surplus, the LEG is the third option alongside ZEV and vZEV.

## What does this mean for businesses with a PV system from 100 kWp?

Market conditions keep changing, and with them the value the asset creates. Four levers bring the solar electricity from the feed-in meter back into the business.

Which model fits depends on the ratio of production to consumption. A manufacturing business on day shift consumes most of it directly; here the levers are storage and EMS. A logistics site with large roofs and low daytime consumption has a surplus and looks at [ZEV](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/zev/), [vZEV](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/vzev/) or [LEG](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/leg/). The comparison of the three models with their legal requirements is in the article [ZEV, vZEV and LEG compared](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/zev-vzev-leg-comparison/), the steps to a higher self-consumption ratio in the guide [Optimise self-consumption](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/optimise-self-consumption/).

[Kuny AG](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/references/kuny/) in Küttigen shows what this looks like in practice: 633 kWp of photovoltaics, supplemented since 2026 by battery storage with 250 kW of power and 522 kWh of capacity. The storage is designed for peak shaving and self-consumption optimisation and additionally provides [ancillary services](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/systemdienstleistungen/) in time windows when the service connection is lightly loaded. Payback is around 5 years. What the balancing energy market offers storage is explained in the article [Balancing energy with battery storage](https://www.ampere-dynamic.ch/en/knowledge/balancing-energy-battery-storage/).

A fifth lever costs no investment: adjusting operational routines. Anyone who moves compressed air, refrigeration or charging into the midday hours shifts consumption into the time of their own production and out of the expensive evening hours of the dynamic tariff. The path leads from the single asset to a flexible energy system that depends less on the electricity market.

## Frequently asked questions

**How has the electricity price for commercial customers in Switzerland developed since 2021?**

The energy component of ElCom category C4 (500'000 kWh annual consumption) stood at a median of 6.97 Rp./kWh in 2021, peaked at 15.20 Rp./kWh in 2024 and stands at 11.28 Rp./kWh in 2026. The total tariff including grid and levies rose over the same period from 17.62 to 23.66 Rp./kWh, a rise of 34 percent according to ElCom.

**What is the reference market price for solar electricity?**

The Referenzmarktpreis (reference market price) is the quarterly averaged market price calculated by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, which has set the benchmark for the statutory remuneration of fed-in solar electricity since 1 January 2026. Systems below 150 kW additionally receive a minimum remuneration under Art. 12 EnV. From 1 January 2027 the hourly day-ahead spot price replaces the quarterly average.

**Is a dynamic electricity tariff worthwhile for a business with a PV system?**

A dynamic tariff pays off when the business can shift loads: battery storage, charging stations and heat pumps can be controlled by an energy management system according to the price signal. EKZ puts the saving for active users at around 5 percent compared with the standard tariff; CKW cites up to 40 percent lower grid costs. Without controllable loads, the tariff brings little.