Is Joining a LEG Worth It? An Honest Example Calculation

The acceptance confirmation for a local electricity community sounds promising: “Discount on grid usage charges: 20%.” We ourselves have been members of a municipality-wide LEG in the EKZ service area since this summer, and before the first bill arrives, I wanted to know what this discount means in Swiss francs. The short answer surprised me: The amount on our electricity bill will change by almost exactly zero francs. And that is not an oversight, but intentional. The longer answer is still worthwhile, because it shows when a LEG actually does save money.

If LEGs are new to you: Here is how they work. If electricity bills are new to you: Here they are explained line by line.

Three caveats not mentioned in the welcome letter

The 20 percent discount sounds like 20 percent lower electricity costs. In fact, it applies:

1. Only to the energy-based grid usage charge. Not to energy, levies, metering, or the basic rate. Under the EKZ 400F grid tariff, that is 7.50 centimes/kWh out of total costs of around 22 centimes/kWh.
2. Only to the LEG share of consumption. In other words, to the kilowatt-hours covered, in 15-minute intervals, by simultaneous local production. For a household without special load management, that is roughly 20 to 40 percent of annual consumption, naturally little at night and in winter.
3. Less the provider’s costs. Anyone who does not organize the LEG themselves but uses the grid operator’s convenience offering pays a service fee per LEG kilowatt-hour.

And everything hinges on point 3.

The calculation using EKZ’s “Gemeinsamstrom” offering

EKZ charges a service fee of 1.50 centimes/kWh (excluding VAT) on every LEG kilowatt-hour for its LEG product. The 20 percent discount on grid tariff 400F amounts to: 7.50 × 0.20 = 1.50 centimes/kWh.

That is no coincidence; it is product design. Per LEG kilowatt-hour, the calculation looks like this (all figures excluding VAT, EKZ tariffs for 2026, summer and winter quarter respectively):

The discount and fee cancel each other out exactly. EKZ itself writes that the offering is an “upgrade to local solar power at no additional cost compared with default supply,” and that is exactly what it means: cost-neutral, not cost-reducing. Those on the standard 400ST tariff (7.95 centimes/kWh) gain a calculated 0.09 centimes per LEG kWh; those on the 400WP heat pump tariff (6.45 centimes/kWh) lose 0.21 centimes. In francs: With annual consumption of 10,000 kWh and an optimistic 30 percent LEG share, this amounts to plus or minus a few francs per year. That is rounding noise, not a return.

That is what it looks like for us as well: the bill amount is the same as before; only the bill has new line items (reduced grid usage plus a service fee on the LEG share), and in accounting terms, part of the supply now comes from rooftops in the municipality rather than from the general supply mix.

When a LEG does provide a financial benefit

The cost-neutral outcome applies to a specific, albeit common, case: consumer only, municipality-wide LEG (20 percent tier), and the grid operator’s convenience offering. There are three ways out:

1. The 40 percent tier. If all participants are connected to the same transformer station, the discount doubles: 40 percent of 7.50 centimes is 3.00 centimes; less the 1.50-centime service fee, that leaves 1.50 centimes per LEG kWh. At 3,000 LEG kWh per year, that is around 49 francs (including VAT). Still not a fortune, but a genuine discount. Neighborhood LEGs are therefore financially more attractive than municipality-wide LEGs.

2. Organize it yourself. The service fee is the price of doing nothing. A self-managed LEG keeps the full discount and sets energy prices internally; however, it needs someone to handle contracts, allocation keys, and billing. Beyond a certain size and with an affordable billing service provider, this can work out, but hardly for individual households.

3. Your own production. The real winner of a LEG is the solar installation. EKZ pays LEG producers with systems up to 30 kWp 11.97 centimes/kWh seasonally (winter quarters) and 9.00 centimes/kWh (summer quarters, both excluding VAT). Normal feed-in compensation, by contrast, is based on the quarterly reference market price; by law, systems below 30 kW are guaranteed only 6.00 centimes/kWh, plus up to 3.00 centimes for guarantees of origin. The comparison for 2026:

In summer, when most of the surplus occurs, the two options differ very little in 2026; in winter, the LEG is about one centime ahead. The larger effect is strategic: LEG compensation is tied to the energy component of default supply and is therefore more predictable than the reference market price, which continues to come under pressure with every additional solar installation. Anyone still planning a system has a more reliable sales channel with a LEG than with the spot market.

Are there reasons to leave again?

Financially, under the grid operator model: no, there is simply nothing to gain or lose. EKZ’s offering includes a monthly right to return with no switching fees, and you remain a default supply customer for residual electricity anyway. As a member, though, I would still review two things annually:

• The ratio of the discount to the service fee. In 2026, it is calibrated to exactly zero. If the grid operator changes the grid tariff or fee asymmetrically for the following year, the cost-neutral result could become a small gain or loss. The tariff sheets for the following year are published at the end of August.
• Compatibility with tariff changes. Anyone wishing to switch to a dynamic tariff or another energy product should clarify whether this can be combined with LEG consumption.

Conclusion

The 20 percent discount is real money, but with the standard offering it does not reach the consumer; it goes to the provider, which takes care of the entire organization in return. For consumers only, joining a LEG is therefore a values-based decision at no cost: local solar power in the accounting, better compensation for producers in the village, and no personal risk. For producers and neighborhood arrangements with a 40 percent discount, it also becomes financially attractive.

Anyone who wants to run through their own figures (different grid tariff, different LEG share, their own PV system, different service fee): There is now the LEG price calculator, which makes exactly this calculation interactively.

Figures: EKZ tariff collection 2026 and EKZ product “Gemeinsamstrom,” as of August 2026, excluding VAT. Other grid operators, other terms; the mechanics remain the same.