The Energy Regulation and Markets Review - Stikeman Elliott

Switzerland
With the introduction of remuneration at cost for input into the grid, one of the
goals of Switzerland’s energy policy is to increase the proportion of electricity produced
from renewable energy by 5,400GWh (or 10 per cent of the country’s present-day
electricity consumption) by 2030. At 2007, approximately 55.6 per cent of Switzerland’s
overall electricity production came from renewable sources, with hydropower by far the
biggest contributor (96.5 per cent). 380 electricity supply companies now offer certified
electricity products from renewable energy, which meet 4.5 per cent of Switzerland’s
electricity demand.
‘New’ forms of renewable energy currently contribute around 5.7 per cent towards
Switzerland’s electricity production today. Of the latter 5 per cent, about 3.72 per cent
comes from biomass (wood and biogas), followed by use of ambient heat (about 0.79 per
cent) and waste from incineration plants (about 0.47 per cent). Smaller contributions
come from solar energy (about 0.13 per cent) and wind energy (about 0.004 per cent). 13
Since 1 January 2009, operators of new facilities producing electricity from
renewable energy – small-scale hydropower plants with a capacity up to 10MW, and
facilities using solar energy, geothermal energy, wind energy, biomass and waste from
biomass – have received an additional combined total of approximately 320 million Swiss
francs per annum. The aim here is to promote the use of environmental technologies for
the production of electricity. Remuneration for the input of electricity into the grid is
financed through a surcharge of 0.6 cents per kilowatt hour (currently 0.45 cents per
kWh) on the electricity tariff.
Swissgrid is part of this initiative, which promotes effective integration of 100 per
cent of electricity produced from renewable energy sources. It advocates national and EU
authorities to strive for an efficient, sustainable, clean and socially accepted development
of the European network infrastructure for both decentralised and large-scale renewable
energies.
The Swiss government is looking into tax reforms to encourage ‘green’ activities
such as energy conservation and anti-pollution measures. The hope is that such tax
reforms could help reduce energy consumption and eliminate Switzerland’s dependence
on nuclear energy by 2050. The goal is not to increase tax volume; rather, the idea is to
reform the tax system without creating a tax burden on businesses or households.
Two potential systems are under consideration: one would compensate taxpayers
for any ecological measures they take by reducing their taxes elsewhere, while in the other
model, they would receive money directly.
The government has asked the finance ministry to collaborate with the
environment, transport and energy ministry to see how these systems might work and to
make some recommendations by the middle of 2012.
Green parties and organisations, the centre-left Social Democrats and the centreright
Christian Democrats generally welcomed moves to reform the tax system to benefit
the environment, although some found the plans too tame. But the centre-right radicals
13 www.bfe.admin.ch/themen/00612/index.html?lang=en; www.bfe.admin.ch/themen/00490/
index.html?lang=en.
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