Reading and Understanding Your Electricity Bill: An EKZ Bill, Line by Line

An electricity bill is one of those documents people pay without reading. Yet it has a transparent structure: every line item has a clear purpose, a clear originator, and a clear answer to whether you can change it. Once you understand the four sections, you can read any Swiss electricity bill, because its structure is prescribed by law and is the same for all grid operators.

This article walks through an invoice from EKZ (Elektrizitätswerke des Kantons Zürich), our grid operator, line by line. The interactive sample bill below follows the structure of our own quarterly bill; the figures represent a sample household using 1’800 kWh per quarter, calculated using the actual EKZ rates for 2026.

Who contributes to the bill in the first place

Three parties appear on an electricity bill, even if only one sends it:

1. The energy supplier sells the kilowatt-hours. Under the basic supply service, this is the local utility; prices are reviewed by the Price Supervisor and ElCom, respectively. This is the only section where you can choose a product.
2. The grid operator transports the electricity. The grid is a regulated monopoly: you cannot change it, and ElCom reviews the rates. However, this is where optional rates and, since 2026, the LEG discount are available.
3. The federal government, canton, and municipality add charges: the grid surcharge, electricity reserve, and municipal fees. Neither the supplier nor the grid operator can change these.

With this framework, every line item below can be categorized. Hover over the rows in the sample bill (or tap them) to display an explanation:

The four sections in detail

For everyone who prefers reading continuous text (and for search engines), here are the same line items in detail.

Energy supply: the only section with product choice

Energy supply is the electricity itself. Under the basic supply service, where the vast majority of households are, the local utility sets the rate annually and ElCom reviews it. At EKZ, the standard product is called “EKZ Energie Erneuerbar” and costs 13.30 Rp./kWh in the winter half-year and 9.00 Rp./kWh in the summer half-year in 2026 (excl. VAT).

What disappeared in 2026 is noteworthy: peak and off-peak pricing. Instead of “expensive during the day, cheap at night,” there is now a single rate that changes each quarter. The classic advice to run the washing machine at night is therefore outdated from a pricing perspective; the season matters, not the time of day. Those wanting more detail can switch to the dynamic optional rate, where the price follows the exchange price hourly.

There is also a fixed base rate of CHF 3.00 per month.

Grid use: the regulated monopoly

Grid use pays for the construction, operation, and maintenance of lines, transformer stations, and substations. You cannot change grid operators; in return, rates are regulated and subject to ElCom review.

Within this monopoly, however, there are choices that can be worthwhile. EKZ offers three grid products for households in 2026:

Allowing control of your water heater therefore saves just under half a centime per kilowatt-hour compared with the standard rate. And since 2026, there has been a second lever at this line item: anyone joining a local electricity community (LEG) receives a statutory discount of 20 or 40 percent on the grid-use consumption charge for electricity traded locally. What an LEG is can be found in the dedicated article; whether it pays off is covered in the next one.

The “ancillary services” line item (0.27 Rp./kWh) goes to Swissgrid for overall system stability: frequency control, balancing energy, and black-start capability.

Metering: now visible

Since 2026, EKZ has listed metering costs separately: CHF 5.00 per month for the meter, data transmission, and provision of metering data. Previously, this was invisibly included in grid use. The smart meter paid for here measures in 15-minute intervals and is the technical foundation for current innovations in the electricity market: dynamic rates, LEG billing, and load shifting.

Surcharges and charges: the government section

Four line items over which neither supplier nor grid operator has any influence:

• Federal charges (2.30 Rp./kWh): the grid surcharge under the Energy Act, which funds renewable-energy promotion and hydropower rehabilitation.
• Electricity reserve (0.41 Rp./kWh): the country’s insurance premium against electricity shortages, introduced after the winter of 2022/23. It pays for hydropower reserves and reserve power plants.
• Socialized costs (0.05 Rp./kWh): grid reinforcements allocated across Switzerland, such as for solar installation connections.
• Energy efficiency incentives (0.16 Rp./kWh): cantonal and municipal incentive programs and energy advice. Municipal concession fees may be added depending on where you live.

Finally, at the bottom is value-added tax: 8.1 percent on everything, including the charges.

What remains per kilowatt-hour

If the sample bill is calculated per individual kilowatt-hour (summer quarter, 400F rate), the result looks roughly like this: 9.0 Rp. for energy, 7.8 Rp. for grid use and ancillary services, 2.9 Rp. in charges, plus prorated base and metering rates and VAT. The result: of roughly 21 to 22 centimes per kWh, not even half is the electricity itself. Anyone discussing electricity prices is discussing the grid and the government half the time.

This is exactly why looking at the line items is worthwhile: a household’s largest individual lever is consumption itself, followed by grid-product selection, the energy product, and now the LEG. For the latter, we built a price calculator that continues the calculation in this article.

All rates: EKZ 2026, excl. VAT, source: EKZ rate schedule 2026. Other grid areas have different prices, but the same bill structure.