Swiss Electricity Market
The electricity agreement with the EU, the move to single-price imbalance settlement, the reform of balancing auctions, and new support instruments for solar PV are currently reshaping the Swiss electricity market. This raises fresh questions about system security, market efficiency, and regulation.
We advise Swissgrid, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, and the regulator ElCom — combining economic analysis with European market expertise. Recent work includes a new imbalance pricing regime, an analysis of rising balancing prices, and an assessment of the EU agreement’s implications for system security and market efficiency.
Ingmar Schlecht leads our Swiss work.
Dr. Ingmar Schlecht
schlecht@neon.energy
+49 177 86 33 526
SFOE
2025
Swiss–EU agreement (Swissgrid). Switzerland and the EU have proposed an agreement to integrate their electricity markets more deeply. In this Consentec-led study, we assess what it would mean for system security, market efficiency, and regulation, giving Swissgrid a fact-based foundation for the debate. The work centers on balancing market integration. Ongoing.
Management premium (SFOE). Switzerland’s move to a single-price imbalance settlement in 2026 requires updating the management fee methodology for renewables. For the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, we analyzed the current approach and developed a transparent formula reflecting balancing costs under the new market design. 2025. Report.
Balancing energy auctions (ElCom). Since the introduction of the PICASSO-compatible bidding process, Switzerland has seen a sharp increase in balancing prices. For the Swiss regulator ElCom, with Takon and ZEW, we analyzed the causes of the price rise, evaluated the current market design, and developed concrete proposals to improve the Swiss balancing market. 2025.
Imbalance settlement price (Swissgrid). Concerned about large system imbalances, Switzerland has decided to reform its imbalance settlement price. For the Swiss TSO, we provided a quantitative assessment of the proposed system and developed a new pricing regime, derived from first principles and informed by the real-world experience of other countries. 2024.
PV support scheme design (Swissgrid). As solar becomes central to Switzerland’s power system, its support scheme must safeguard generation adequacy cost-effectively. For Swissgrid, we reviewed European support instruments and proposed an optimized contract for differences to strengthen security of supply. 2022.
Schlecht et al. (2022): Optimized market value of alpine solar PV
Savelsberg et al. (2018): Impact of climate change on Swiss hydropower
Schlecht & Weigt (2015): Linking Europe: the Swiss transmission grid until 2050
Schlecht & Weigt (2014): Swissmod: a model of the Swiss electricity market