Ex-post analysis
of energy consumption
in Switzerland 2023

Since the beginning of the 1990s, analyses of changes in energy consumption have been carried out periodically on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE). For several years, Prognos has been responsible for the analysis.

The key findings for the period 2000–2023 are as follows:

• The average resident population rose by 23.7 percent. The energy reference area grew by 31.7 percent overall, and the energy reference area in residential buildings by 35.6 percent.
• The gross domestic product increased by 50.2 percent in real terms.
• The number of motor vehicles (+40.6 percent) and the distances travelled by passenger and freight traffic also increased.
• These volume effects all lead – in themselves – to higher energy consumption.
• Energy prices developed unevenly (based on real consumer prices according to the consumer price index of the Federal Statistical Office).
• In 2023, prices for electricity and fuels were slightly above the 2000 level: electricity +33.4 percent, petrol +14.8 percent, diesel +20.8 percent.
• The prices of the other energy sources rose in the period 2000 to 2023, in some cases significantly: heating oil +99.0 percent, natural gas +149.7 percent, district heating +71.0 percent, fuelwood +66.2 percent.
• For producers and importers, the price movements in the period 2000 to 2023 were slightly different: heating oil +138.5 percent, natural gas +270.2 percent, diesel +24.0 percent, electricity +31.9 percent.
• The winter months of 2023 were comparatively mild in relation to the period under review from 2000 to 2023.
• The number of heating degree days in 2023 was 2,846, compared to an average of 3,172 for the period 2000 to 2023.
• The number of cooling degree days in 2023 was above average at 274 (average for the years 2000 to 2023: 176).
• At 4,644 MJ/m², the solar radiation in 2023 was well above the average for the period under review (4,494 MJ/m²).
   

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More information is available on the BFE website

Project team: Dr Andreas Kemmler, Dr Alexander Piégsa

Last updated: 05.02.2025