Is it worth joining an LEG? An honest example calculation

The confirmation of admission to a local electricity community sounds promising: “Discount on grid usage charges: 20%.” Since this summer, we ourselves have been members of a municipality-wide LEG in the EKZ area, 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 an LEG does in fact save money.

If LEGs are new to you: Here is how they work. If the electricity bill is new to you: Here it is explained item by item.

Three limitations 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 tariff. Under the EKZ grid tariff 400F, this is 7.50 Rp./kWh out of total full costs of around 22 Rp./kWh.
2. Only to the LEG share of consumption. In other words, to the kilowatt-hours covered, accurate to the quarter-hour, by simultaneous local production. For a household without special load management, this 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 organise the LEG themselves but uses the grid operator’s convenience offer pays a service fee for each LEG kilowatt-hour.

And everything hinges on point 3.

The calculation using EKZ’s “Gemeinsamstrom” offer

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

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

The discount and the fee cancel each other out exactly. EKZ itself writes that the offer is an “upgrade to local solar power at no additional cost compared with basic supply”, and that is precisely what it means: cost-neutral, not cost-reducing. Those on the standard tariff 400ST (7.95 Rp./kWh) gain a calculated 0.09 Rp. per LEG kWh; on the heat pump tariff 400WP (6.45 Rp./kWh), they lose 0.21 Rp. 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 also what it looks like for us: the same bill amount as before, only the bill gets new items (reduced grid usage plus service fee on the LEG share), and in accounting terms, part of the consumption now comes from roofs in the municipality rather than from the general supply mix.

When an LEG does provide financial benefits

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

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

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

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

In summer, when most surplus occurs, there is almost no difference between the two options in 2026; in winter, the LEG is about one rappen ahead. The larger effect is strategic: LEG compensation is linked to the energy component of basic 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 an installation has a more reliable sales channel with an 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 and nothing to lose. The EKZ offer includes a monthly right to return without switching fees, and customers remain on basic supply for their remaining electricity anyway. As a member, I would still review two things every year:

• The ratio of discount to 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 may become a small plus or minus. 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; with the standard offer, it simply does not end up with the consumer, but with the provider that takes over the entire organisation in return. For consumers only, joining an LEG is therefore an idealistic decision at no cost: local solar power in the accounting balance, better compensation for producers in the village, no personal risk. For producers and neighbourhood 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, own PV system, different service fee) can now use the LEG price calculator, which makes exactly this calculation interactive.

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