Your electricity supplier: ewz
Contact: www.ewz.ch, phone 058 319 41 11
Reference year: 2024
The figures show the composition of ewz’s electricity products based on data for 2024.
Where does my electricity come from?
The European electricity grids are interconnected to form a larger electricity grid. The best way to imagine the entirety of the produced electricity is as a ‘pool’ of electricity: electricity from all producers flows into the pool and all consumers draw electricity from it. With green electricity, producers and consumers can work together to ensure that the pool becomes steadily cleaner over time – whether on our side by producing green electricity or on your end by purchasing it. With your demand for green electricity, you are therefore making an important contribution to replacing fossil and nuclear energy.
What are certificates of origin?
Once the electricity has flowed into the pool it is no longer possible to determine where it was produced. The electricity’s source is therefore verified with certificates of origin. For every kilowatt-hour produced, the certification body Pronovo issues a certificate of origin to the electricity producer. It provides information on the electricity quality (e.g. coal, solar, wind, etc.) as well as the production plant or the country or region (Switzerland, EU, etc.) where the electricity was produced. In addition, the certificate of origin shows whether the electricity has a sustainability label and, if so, which one (e.g. naturemade star). The certificates of origin are traded as independent certificates. On the one hand, these certificates prove that your electricity product has the desired properties. On the other hand, the certificates allow you as an end user to understand the composition of your electricity products. Information on the composition can be found in the fuel mix disclosure, which is published annually.
How can you trace the origin of electricity?
To prove the origin of electricity, the relevant electricity source is confirmed with certificates of origin. For every kilowatt-hour produced, the accredited certification body Pronovo issues a certificate of origin to the electricity producer. With this certificate, the suppliers guarantee the environmental quality of the produced electricity to end users.
How does the certificate of origin system work? Who is responsible for it?
The certificate of origin system is an electronic accounting system. In Switzerland, there is both a statutory recording obligation for each kilowatt-hour (kWh) produced and a statutory declaration obligation for each kWh consumed by end customers. Through the certificate of origin system, the certificate of origin is sent from the operators of electricity production plants directly or via intermediary trade to the electricity suppliers, who validate it when their end consumers consume it. In the certificate of origin system, the validation takes place either for the electricity product or for the end customer. A certificate of origin can only be used once – after it has been validated, it is ‘used up’ and no longer available. On behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, Pronovo is responsible for the Swiss certificate of origin system as an accredited certification body for the registration and validation of certificates of origin.
Can foreign certificates of origin also be used for the fuel mix disclosure?
The Swiss certificate of origin system is part of the European Energy Certificate System (EECS), which greatly simplifies the tradeability between the currently 30 European certificate of origin registers. ewz, for example, imports certificates of origin produced in its own wind power plants in Norway or France and uses them in the basic supply products that are delivered to market customers. The export of Swiss certificates of origin to European countries has been suspended since 2021 because, from the EU’s point of view, Switzerland is a third country without a framework agreement. Swiss certificates of origin are therefore no longer recognised.
Do the rates for the basic supply include energy from non-renewable sources?
ewz produces renewable energy in its own and in partner power plants. We have been supplying our basic supply customers (households, SMEs) with 100% renewable, green electricity) since 2015 and all customers since 2019. Our basic supply electricity products (ewz.econatur, ewz.natur and ewz.pronatur) do not contain nuclear energy, nor do we have any investments in coal-fired power stations.
