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Electricity is increasingly displacing fossil fuels and is thus becoming more and more important in everyday life. Consumption in this country at a glance.
The reduced gas supply from Russia and the shut down nuclear power plants in France are currently showing how strained the energy supply is in Europe. The federal government also warns of possible energy bottlenecks in winter. The fact that Switzerland could run out of electricity is a real risk, according to the electricity industry.
Even if energy consumption in Switzerland as a whole – including that of fossil fuels – has fallen in recent years, electricity remains more important than ever. Electricity consumption has increased by around 8 percent since the turn of the millennium.
Home office increases consumption
The Federal Office of Energy explains the increased power consumption with the positive economic development and the growth of the population. Besides, he is Consumption also increased during Corona: The population has increasingly worked and cooked in their own four walls because of the home office. Despite this, per capita electricity consumption in Switzerland fell by 9 percent between 2000 and 2020.
Apartments and residential buildings are among the major consumers of electricity in Switzerland. Households consume around 35 percent of electricity. In the past 20 years, consumption has increased by around 25 percent.
“Electrification and digitization are increasing the power consumption,” says Nils Epprecht, head of the Swiss Energy Foundation. There are more and more electric kitchen aids in households and companies and industrial companies are increasingly working digitally. “One accepts this increased power consumption in order to say goodbye to fossil fuels.”
Households use a large part of the electricity to heat the rooms. Changes in heating technology have also increased consumption. “Today there are far more heat pumps,” says Jürg Rohrer, Professor of Renewable Energies at the ZHAW. “They have replaced the classic oil heaters.”
Electricity consumption for heat pumps increased by more than 300 percent between 2000 and 2020, according to figures from the Federal Office of Energy. On the other hand, the consumption of energy sources such as heating oil, wood or coal has fallen.
In addition to households, a large part of the electricity also flows into industry and the service sector. Factories and manufacturing facilities use over half of the electricity purchased to power motors and machines.
Since 2000, the demand for electricity in industry has fallen by around four percent. The reason for this is legal requirements, says energy expert Rohrer. “They forced companies to make technical improvements, and so motors with lower power consumption are in use today.”
In view of the impending power shortage in winter, the question arises as to how further electricity savings can be made in Switzerland. In a first step, the federal government would call for savings to reduce electricity consumption. However, Rohrer believes that these appeals would not work.
Rising electricity prices foreseeable
Electricity prices, on the other hand, are likely to have a stronger effect on consumption, he explains, but only above a certain level. “Only when the price of electricity increases by a factor of two or three does behavior change.” How the electricity prices will actually develop will be known at the end of August.