Off-peak EV charging in Switzerland: low tariff hours, prices and scheduling

Charging your electric car on the low tariff cuts the price per kWh by roughly 15 % to almost 40 %, depending on your network operator. Switzerland has no national off-peak timetable: each operator sets its own hours, usually at night and sometimes at weekends, and a few have even moved the low tariff to midday.

If you are new to Switzerland, the letters HT and NT on your electricity bill may be the first clue. This guide explains what they mean, how to find your own hours, how much you really save in a year, how many kilometres you can add overnight and how to schedule charging. It also covers dynamic tariffs, possible since 2026, and charging with solar power. If you drive a company car, Voltaback lets your employer reimburse every kWh at its real price, whether high or low tariff.

High tariff and low tariff: how the two-rate system works

Most Swiss network operators offer a two-rate tariff: a high tariff (Hochtarif / tarif haut, HT) during periods of high demand and a low tariff (Niedertarif / tarif bas, NT) the rest of the time. Your meter records the kWh used in each period separately.

A few basics for newcomers:

• Network operator (Netzbetreiber / gestionnaire de réseau): your local or cantonal utility. It sets the tariffs and the hours.
• Basic supply: households using less than 100,000 kWh a year buy electricity from that operator at its published tariffs. You cannot switch supplier, but you can often choose between its products.
• Single tariff (Einheitstarif / tarif simple): one price around the clock, with no HT/NT split.

The low tariff applies to energy and, at many operators, to grid use too. The grid component is what creates the biggest differences. Levies (the federal grid surcharge of 2.3 cents/kWh, cantonal and municipal levies) are usually the same day and night.

Low tariff hours differ from one operator to the next

Real 2026 examples from Zurich, Vaud, St. Gallen and Zug show how different the rules are:

Sources: ewz, tariff overview 2026 (in German), City of Lausanne, electricity tariffs 2026 (PDF, FR), Zuzwil, notice of 2026 tariff changes (in German), WWZ, 2026 tariff changes (in German).

Zuzwil illustrates a trend: with more and more rooftop solar, some operators now make midday the cheap period. Charging there at night has been on the high tariff since 2026. Always check your own hours before scheduling anything.

How to find your low tariff hours

Three sources, from quickest to most complete:

1. Your electricity bill: if it shows two meter readings or two prices (HT and NT), you are on a two-rate tariff. The product name is shown too.
2. Your operator's tariff sheet: it lists the hours and per-kWh prices for the current year.
3. The ElCom website: enter your municipality to see your operator and its products, often including the cheapest. Source: ElCom electricity price website.

If your bill shows only one reading, you are on a single tariff. Ask your operator whether a two-rate tariff is available for your connection and whether switching involves a meter change.

How big is the gap between high and low tariff?

The gap varies widely between operators. The figures below are published 2026 prices per kWh.

Voltaback calculation from the tariff sheets cited above; Ascona source: Municipality of Ascona, 2026 tariffs (in Italian). Add 8.1 % VAT: at ewz, the low tariff comes to about 17.2 cents including VAT.

How your overall price is built up and how it compares across cantons is explained in our article on the electricity price per kWh in Switzerland.

How much do you save a year by charging off-peak?

Take a driver covering 15,000 km a year. At about 18 kWh per 100 km into the battery plus 10 % losses, that is roughly 3,000 kWh drawn from the meter.

The saving requires no purchase: you simply shift charging by a few hours. The full cost of charging at home, charge by charge and month by month, is covered in our article on the cost of charging at home.

Watch out for losses: they are higher on a household socket (about 13 to 15 % according to the German motoring club ADAC) than on a wallbox (5 to 7 %). A cheap kWh lost as heat is still a kWh you paid for. Source: ADAC, charging loss study (in German).

How many kilometres can you add in the low tariff window?

It depends on your charging power and the length of your window. Assumption: 20 kWh per 100 km drawn from the meter, losses included.

Voltaback calculation. For a commuter driving 40 to 60 km a day, between Zug and Zurich or Lausanne and Geneva, even a socket is enough to recharge everything on the low tariff. Exact charging times by battery and power are in our article on EV charging time.

Scheduling your charge on the low tariff

Once you know your hours, the car or wallbox does the work. Three options:

1. In the car's app: most models let you set a start time or, better, a departure time with a target charge level. Choose "scheduled charging" and enter the start of your low tariff window.
2. In the wallbox or its app: useful if several cars share the charger in the underground car park, or if your car handles scheduling poorly.
3. Through an energy management system: essential with a dynamic tariff or solar panels, because it steers charging by price or production.

Three habits avoid surprises:

• start charging a few minutes after the window opens, to allow for small clock differences;
• check the new tariff sheet every year: operators publish tariffs by the end of August, and hours can change, as Zuzwil shows;
• compare any e-mobility product your operator offers. At ewz, for instance, the e-mobility tariffs apply the high tariff only Monday to Saturday from 11:00 to 13:00 and 18:00 to 20:00 (ewz, tariff overview 2026).

Dynamic electricity tariffs since 2026: the end of fixed off-peak hours?

Since 1 January 2026, the second package of the Federal Act on a Secure Electricity Supply from Renewable Energy (Mantelerlass) has been in force. Network operators may offer dynamic tariffs to customers with a smart meter. Source: ElCom FAQ on the Mantelerlass (in German).

Two 2026 examples:

• EKZ (canton of Zurich): the price can change every 15 minutes and is published by 18:00 the day before, including via an API. Energy varies by at most 5 cents around the standard tariff, grid use by -5 to +15 cents. EKZ recommends the tariff only with an energy management system. Source: EKZ, dynamic tariff sheets 2026 (in German).
• AIL (Lugano): four daily bands (morning, solar from 10:00 to 17:00, evening, night from 22:00 to 06:00), with prices published the day before. Source: AIL, dynamic tariff conditions (in Italian).

For an EV, a dynamic tariff pays off if charging is steered automatically into the cheapest quarter-hours. Without automation it can cost more than a classic two-rate tariff, because grid charges can rise by up to 15 cents at peak times.

Smart meters are coming anyway: by the end of 2027, 80 % of metering points in each network area must have one, under the Electricity Supply Ordinance. Source: Electricity Supply Ordinance, Fedlex.

Charging with solar: ZEV and LEG

With solar panels on the roof, the cheapest kWh is often the one produced at midday and used on site. Charging between 11:00 and 15:00, when working from home or at weekends, can then beat the night-time low tariff.

Two shared models are growing:

• self-consumption community (ZEV, also called RCP in Romandie and Ticino): residents of a building share the rooftop solar output at an internal price;
• local electricity community (LEG / CEL), possible since 1 January 2026: locally produced power is shared through the neighbourhood grid at a reduced grid charge.

Source: Balthasar Legal, Swiss self-consumption models 2026 (in German).

Note that dynamic tariffs are not always compatible: at both AIL and EKZ they do not apply to members of a LEG, and at AIL not to ZEV/RCP members either. Pick the one model that fits your charging pattern.

Company car: reimbursed at the real price, high or low tariff

If you charge a company car at home, your employer has two options. The lump sum in the model expense regulations (Spesenreglement / règlement de remboursement des frais) of the Swiss Tax Conference (SSK/CSI) is at most CHF 60.– a month, whatever your tariff. Reimbursing actual expenses follows your real consumption and your real price. Source: Federal Tax Administration (ESTV), model expense regulations 2026 (in German).

With actual expenses nothing is lost: if you charge on the low tariff, the company pays less; if you have to charge during the day, you are not out of pocket. Each kWh is reimbursed at the price of the period in which it was used, and documented reimbursements stay off your salary certificate (Lohnausweis / certificat de salaire) as salary.

That is what Voltaback does. The platform records every charge (date, duration, kWh) and applies the high or low tariff in your contract, including a solar or ZEV price. 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.

You can follow your charges and reimbursements in the driver app. Your employer never receives your location data, in line with the revised Data Protection Act (nDSG / nLPD). Every step from the driver's side is explained in our guide to charging a company car at home.

Charge at the right time, get reimbursed at the right price

The low tariff is the simplest saving an electric car offers: know your hours, schedule the car, check the tariff sheet every year. For a company car, that saving should also show up in the reimbursement, at the exact price of every kWh.

Are you a fleet or HR manager? Contact our team to see how Voltaback reimburses every charge at each employee's real tariff. Details of the offer are on our home charging reimbursement page.