Electricity price per kWh in Switzerland (2026-2027) and what it means for EV charging

The median electricity price for a Swiss household is 27.7 cents (Rappen) per kWh in 2026 and will fall to 26.5 cents in 2027, excluding VAT (ElCom household profile H4). Behind that national figure lie wide local gaps: depending on the municipality, a kWh will cost between 10.56 and 45.88 cents in 2027.

If you have moved to Switzerland, this is often the first surprise: there is no national electricity price, and you cannot choose your supplier as a household. This guide explains how pricing works, how to find the price for your municipality, and what it means for charging an electric car at home compared with public chargers. If you drive a company car, you will also see which price your employer should use: it is the one Voltaback applies to reimburse home charging at actual cost.

How electricity pricing works in Switzerland

Switzerland has around 580 distribution network operators, usually a municipal or cantonal utility. Households using less than 100,000 kWh a year cannot switch supplier: they buy from their local operator at its published tariffs (basic supply, Grundversorgung / approvisionnement de base).

Each operator must publish next year's tariffs by the end of August. The Federal Electricity Commission (ElCom) then calculates a national median. The benchmark is profile H4: a five-room flat with an electric cooker and tumble dryer, no electric water heater, using 4,500 kWh a year.

2027 will be the second consecutive year of falling prices nationally. The main driver is cheaper energy; grid costs are rising slightly.

Source: Federal Council and ElCom, press release of 8 September 2026 on 2027 tariffs.

What your price per kWh is made of

A Swiss electricity bill adds up four blocks: energy, grid use, metering and levies. The table shows the average components published by ElCom; their sum does not exactly match the median, because each component is calculated separately.

Since 2026, metering appears as a separate fixed monthly amount. It does not change by a single cent if you charge an electric car.

Source: ElCom press release on 2027 tariffs.

Electricity prices by canton: from Zug to Basel

The price depends on your network operator, and therefore on where you live. Cantonal medians give a first order of magnitude.

Prices excluding VAT, profile H4. Source: ElCom electricity price website (queried on 22.10.2026).

Gaps within a canton remain large. In 2027 the cheapest municipality in the country will pay 10.56 cents/kWh (Rongellen, GR) and the most expensive 45.88 cents/kWh (Kestenholz, SO), more than four times as much. Source: Südostschweiz, based on ElCom data (in German).

To find your exact price, enter your municipality or postcode on the ElCom website, which is available in English. You will see your operator's standard product and often its cheapest one.

The right price for charging: the marginal price, VAT included

To know what a charge costs, do not divide your total bill by your kWh. Fixed amounts (metering, any standing charge) are paid anyway, with or without an electric car.

The real cost of one charged kWh is:

1. the energy price of your product (high or low tariff, depending on the time of day);
2. plus the per-kWh part of the grid charge;
3. plus per-kWh levies (federal grid surcharge of 2.3 cents, cantonal and municipal levies);
4. plus VAT at 8.1 %, because ElCom prices are published excluding VAT.

Applied to the national median, this gives an order of magnitude:

Voltaback calculation based on ElCom figures. Your own figure may differ by several cents, which is why fair reimbursement starts from the employee's contract, not from this average.

High and low tariff: each operator sets its own hours

Most operators offer a two-rate tariff: high tariff (Hochtarif / tarif haut, HT) during the day and low tariff (Niedertarif / tarif bas, NT) at night, often at weekends too. There is no national timetable.

Two real 2026 examples:

• ewz (City of Zurich, ewz.natur product): high tariff Monday to Saturday from 06:00 to 22:00, low tariff the rest of the time. Total including levies: 26.25 cents versus 15.90 cents, excluding VAT. Source: ewz, tariff overview 2026 (in German).
• Services industriels de Lausanne (VD, DUO profile): peak hours Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 22:00, off-peak nights and the whole weekend. Energy and grid: 24.58 cents versus 18.02 cents, excluding VAT and levies. Source: City of Lausanne, electricity tariffs 2026 (PDF, FR).

How to find your hours, schedule charging and calculate the annual saving is covered in our guide to off-peak EV charging in Switzerland.

Dynamic tariffs, solar and ZEV

Since 1 January 2026, under the second package of the Federal Act on a Secure Electricity Supply from Renewable Energy (Mantelerlass), operators may offer dynamic tariffs to customers with a smart meter. The price can then change every 15 minutes. Source: ElCom FAQ on the Mantelerlass (in German).

Employees with their own solar panels, in a self-consumption community (ZEV / RCP) or a local electricity community (LEG / CEL) often pay an internal price below the grid tariff. For them, the cantonal median overstates the real cost.

Public charging: what a kWh costs at the charger

At a public charger you pay for the energy, but also for the station, its grid connection and the operator. A kWh therefore costs more than twice as much as at home. Prices change often: always check the price in the app before plugging in.

Sources: electrive, Electra in Switzerland (in German), electrive, GOFAST in Matran (in German), TCS, fast charging stations in Switzerland (in German).

If you charge on the road often, a subscription makes a real difference. The Electra charging card offered with Voltaback is one example.

Charging losses: the kWh you pay for is not the kWh you store

Part of the electricity paid for at the meter is lost as heat before it reaches the battery. In 2026 the German motoring club ADAC measured 12.7 to 15.3 % losses on a 2.3 kW household socket for four of the five cars tested (up to 24.2 % for the fifth), against 5.1 to 7.0 % on an 11 kW wallbox. Source: ADAC, charging loss study (in German).

At the median marginal price of 28.2 cents, this means:

• on a wallbox, each kWh actually stored costs about 30 cents;
• on a household socket, rather 32 to 33 cents.

The car's trip computer ignores these losses. For a budget or a reimbursement, always start from the energy measured at the meter. How this can be measured without a smart meter is explained in our article on charging without a smart meter.

From price per kWh to cost per 100 km

The calculation fits in one line: consumption per 100 km × price per kWh. We use 20 kWh per 100 km drawn from the meter, i.e. about 18 kWh into the battery plus 10 % losses.

Charging at home is therefore two to four times cheaper than a fast charger. The cost of a full charge by battery size and the monthly budget are covered in our article on the cost of charging at home.

For fleets: where cars charge matters more than the supplier

Take a company car driving 30,000 km a year, about 6,000 kWh at the meter.

Voltaback calculation; the splits are assumptions, not measurements. Across 20 vehicles the difference exceeds CHF 23'000.– a year.

The condition: employees must be reimbursed at the right price. If they lose money charging at home, they will use the company fuel card at fast chargers instead. Run this calculation with your own vehicles and cantons in the fleet charging cost simulator.

Which kWh price should you use to reimburse an employee?

The right price is the one in the employee's own electricity contract, at the time the car charged: high or low tariff, solar or ZEV price, dynamic tariff where applicable. A national or cantonal median is bound to be wrong for part of your workforce, since prices vary up to fourfold between municipalities.

The model expense regulations (Spesenreglement / règlement de remboursement des frais) of the Swiss Tax Conference (SSK/CSI) allow a lump sum of at most CHF 60.– per month for charging an electric company car at the employee's home. Yet at 15,000 km a year (3,000 kWh at the meter) and the median marginal price, the actual cost already reaches about CHF 846.– a year, or about CHF 70.– a month. In Basel-Stadt it is closer to CHF 83.– a month. Source: Federal Tax Administration (ESTV), model expense regulations 2026 (in German).

The alternative is reimbursing actual expenses against proof: measured kWh multiplied by the real contract price. Properly documented, these are neither salary on the salary certificate (Lohnausweis / certificat de salaire) nor subject to AHV/AVS social security contributions. Lump sum versus actual cost is compared in our article on EV charging expense claims, and the tax rules are explained in our guide to reimbursing EV charging costs.

Voltaback measures every charge and applies the employee's real tariff. Voltaback relies on the home's MID-certified meter, not on a standalone cable meter. The measurement has been audited by an independent third party: 1.22 % relative error. The company never receives employees' location data (revised Data Protection Act, nDSG / nLPD).

Reimburse at the real price, municipality by municipality

The price of a kWh in Switzerland is not an average: it depends on the municipality, the time of day and the contract. Fair reimbursement therefore follows the real tariff, so nobody funds the company car out of their own pocket, and nobody profits from it.

Do you manage an electric fleet or HR? Talk to our team: we will show you how to reimburse every charge at each employee's real tariff, with no extra hardware.