Glossary
Demand charge
Also known as: Leistungspreis, Demand charge, Leistungstarif, Capacity charge
The Leistungspreis is the demand charge on Swiss electricity bills: the component commercial and industrial businesses pay for their maximum power draw, billed in CHF per kilowatt. For most Swiss distribution grid operators, the highest 15-minute average of the month is decisive. A single short load peak can therefore determine the grid costs of the entire month, regardless of actual energy consumption.
How is the demand charge calculated?
The basis is load-profile metering under Art. 8 of the Electricity Supply Ordinance (StromVV): sites with power metering deliver their load profile to the grid operator in 15-minute averages. The grid operator takes the highest value of the month, at some operators of the year, and multiplies it by the rate in CHF per kW. The demand charge therefore rewards evenness, not thrift: whoever draws the same amount of energy without peaks pays less.
Grid usage tariffs are regulated; ElCom publishes the tariffs of all distribution grid operators (ElCom electricity price overview). Ampere Dynamic evaluates this raw data every year: in 2026, the demand charge for the standard profile C6 (400 kW, 1.5 GWh per year, medium voltage) has a median of CHF 108 per kW and year, the middle half of grid operators lies between CHF 88 and 127, and the extremes are CHF 27 and 245 (demand charge comparison 2026). A site with a 400 kW peak load pays around CHF 43’000 per year at the median for power alone.
How can the demand charge be lowered?
The most effective lever is peak shaving with a battery storage system, controlled by an energy management system that knows the grid operator’s 15-minute measurement window and discharges before the target value is exceeded. Every kilowatt capped for good saves around CHF 108 per year at the median tariff. Without storage, load shifting helps: staggered start-up of compressors and refrigeration plants, charging the fleet at night, blocking periods for heat pumps.
Two limits apply. With grid operators that fold the demand charge into the energy rate or charge less than CHF 5 per kW and year, there is nothing to cap. And whoever switches supplier lowers the energy price, not the grid usage fee: the demand charge stays with the distribution grid operator. Concrete savings potential and the reference project Kuny AG are provided in the article Peak shaving with battery storage.