Domestic consumption in 2023 stood at 60.3 billion kWh.
After deduction of transmission and distribution losses of 4.2 billion kWh, the
final electricity consumption amounted to 56.1 billion kWh. This is 1.7% or 1.0 billion kWh less than in 2022 (57.0 billion kWh), corresponding to the annual consumption of approximately 200,000 households. Year-on-year changes were -3.8% in the first quarter, -2.5% in the second, -1.9% in the third and +1.5% in the fourth quarter.

The annual retrospective analyses of energy consumption will be able to provide further information on the factors influencing developments in electricity consumption (publication in October 2024). General economic expansion and population growth, together with cold weather, led to an increase in consumption in 2023.

Economic expansion: Switzerland's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.7% in 2023, according to initial provisional statistics (excluding adjustments for sporting events; source: State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO).
Population growth: According to the provisional statistics issued by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on 4 April 2024, the population of Switzerland increased by 1.26% in 2023.
Cold weather: In 2023, the number of heating degree days was 1.8% higher than the previous year (see table in appendix). As around 10% of electricity consumption in Switzerland is used for heating, this led to a slight increase in consumption.

Domestic electricity production in 2023

Electricity production (domestic generation) increased by 13.5% to a record 72.1 billion kWh in 2023 (2022: 63.5 billion kWh). After deduction of 5.4 billion kWh used by storage pumps, the
net electricity generated amounted to 66.7 billion kWh. Domestic generation lay
above the corresponding value of the previous year in all four quarters (+9.8%, +7.4%, +17.6%, +18.7%).

Hydropower plants (run-of-river and storage power plants) generated 21.7% more electricity than in the previous year (run-of-river power plants +12.9%, storage power plants +29.3%). At 40.8 billion kWh, this was the second-highest production result for hydropower plants since the record year of 2001 (42.3 billion kWh).

Electricity production at the four Swiss
nuclear power plants increased by 1.0% to 23.3 billion kWh (2022: 23.1 billion kWh). In 2023 the availability rate of Switzerland's nuclear power plants was 90.0% (2022: 89.5%).

Hydropower plants contributed 56.6% to overall electricity production (run-of-river power plants 24.3%, storage power plants 32.3%), while nuclear power plants supplied 32.4% and conventional thermal and renewable energy plants generated 11.0%.

Export surplus in 2023

With physical electricity imports of 27.5 billion kWh and exports of 33.9 billion kWh, the balance for 2023 was an export surplus of 6.4 billion kWh (2022: import surplus of 3.4 billion kWh). In the first and fourth quarters (winter quarters) Switzerland imported 0.6 billion kWh net (2022: 5.6 billion kWh); in the second and third quarters it exported 7.0 billion kWh net (2022: 2.2 billion kWh).

Revenue from trade-based electricity exports amounted to CHF 4,678 million (11.64 centimes per kWh), according to data from the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS). Expenditure of CHF 3,702 million (10.71 centimes per kWh) was incurred for trade-based electricity imports. In 2023 Switzerland thus had a
positive foreign trade balance of CHF 976 million (2022: positive foreign trade balance of CHF 71 million) (source: FOCBS / swissimpex; as at: 2.4.2024). Of note is that prices have more than halved compared to the previous year (now roughly at the same level as in 2021).

Electricity consumption down by 1.7% in 2023