Sharing the sun with your neighbours
Context
Swiss law increasingly allows households to share locally produced solar electricity with their neighbours: since 2025 through virtual self-consumption communities (vZEVs), and since 2026 through local electricity communities (LEGs). The idea is that these arrangements encourage a genuine local exchange of energy: members shift their consumption to the hours when the sun is shining, and communities invest in solar installations, batteries, and flexible appliances. Whether today's implementations actually create these effects is an open question. If energy communities are offered purely as a discount on the electricity bill, there is little incentive to trade energy locally, and little reason to expect any change in household behaviour.
About the project
The project investigates this question from two sides. On the quantitative side, we are working with Swiss energy utilities to obtain anonymized, aggregated smart meter data from existing energy communities to see whether consumption patterns actually change. We also survey the community offerings currently on the Swiss market and examine whether their pricing rewards local energy exchange. On the qualitative side, we conduct interviews with initiators and utilities to understand why energy communities are formed and how they are implemented. Should data from real communities prove insufficient, we alternatively analyse the well-documented pilot community in Walenstadt, quantifying what such a community could achieve and comparing this to what it currently delivers.
The result will be an evidence-based assessment of whether Switzerland's current energy communities genuinely promote local energy exchange and change household behaviour, or whether their potential remains untapped. As part of the project, a workshop on energy policy and local energy communities brought together researchers, policy makers, distribution system operators, and municipal representatives. The findings will be made openly available to households, utilities, municipalities, and policy makers to support the design of energy communities that deliver real benefits.
Participate in the project
The project is looking for utilities and distribution system operators who can share anonymized, aggregated smart meter data from existing energy communities. We are equally keen to hear from the initiators and coordinators of vZEVs and LEGs, whether you are just considering setting one up or already run one, to understand why these communities form and how they are implemented in practice. Your experience will help us assess whether Switzerland's energy communities genuinely encourage local energy exchange.
For more information, please contact Nicolas Greber nicolasjoel.greber@uzh.ch.
