Solar power: your own roof or a green tariff?Direct and cheaper.

If you want electricity from a renewable source, you have two routes. You can choose a green or nature power product from your utility and usually pay a few centimes per kWh more for it. Or you generate solar power yourself: then every kWh you use yourself costs much less over the life of the system than grid electricity, and you save the 27.7 ct. per kWh that a household pays in the median in 2026 (ElCom, Federal Electricity Commission).

One is a tariff, the other is a system on your roof. Both have their place. The difference lies in cost, impact and independence.

What is green electricity, what is nature power?

The terms are not protected. Each utility decides for itself what is behind them. Usually:

• Green electricity is electricity from renewable sources such as water, sun or wind. The utility backs it with guarantees of origin.
• Nature power is often a premium variant: Swiss origin, stricter ecological requirements, sometimes with a contribution to fund new systems.

Physically, the same electricity from the grid flows to all customers. What you buy is the guarantee of origin. It proves for every kWh where and how it was produced. That is honest and useful, but it does not change your electricity bill: you still pay for every kWh, plus the surcharge.

Solar power from your own roof

With your own system, you generate electricity where you need it. There are three ways in which this electricity shows up in your bill:

1. Self-consumption: you use the electricity directly. You save the full grid electricity price including the grid fee.
2. Feed-in: what you do not need flows into the grid. For this your utility pays the feed-in tariff. It is often between 6 and 15 ct. per kWh, and so much lower than the purchase price.
3. Guarantees of origin: if you wish, you have your electricity certified and sell the certificates.

That is why, with your own roof, self-consumption counts most. A single-family home uses about 30 percent directly without further measures. With a battery storage system, a heat pump or an EV charger for the car, it is 60 to 70 percent.

What does it cost by comparison?

A green tariff never lowers your bill, it raises it slightly. A solar system is an investment that pays for itself over the years. For a typical 10 kWp system, expect CHF 24,000 to 30,000, less the one-off payment and tax deduction. You will find the full calculation with a table in the guide What does a solar system cost?

Impact matters too: a green tariff buys certificates for existing generation. A new system on your roof brings additional renewable generation to Switzerland. If impact matters to you, that is the stronger lever.

You can combine the two. In winter the system delivers less, and part of your annual demand stays with the utility. For this remaining electricity you can still choose a green tariff product.

Feed-in tariff and minimum payment

Your grid operator takes the electricity you do not use yourself. Since 2026, a statutory minimum payment based on the market price has applied to small systems. Beyond that, each utility sets its own tariff, and the differences are large. It is worth knowing your utility’s tariff before you size the system. The lower the tariff, the more each kWh you use yourself brings. We look it up for your address and calculate with it.

What does it mean for the environment?

A green tariff product shows where the electricity comes from on paper. It does not say whether a new system was built for it. Some utilities put part of the surcharge into a fund for new systems. That is good, but it remains the utility’s decision.

With your own solar system, you build new generation yourself. The electricity is produced on existing surfaces, with no new land and no long cables. There is also an advantage for the grid: what you use yourself at midday does not have to travel through the lines. And in summer, when the sun is strongest, your system is at its most productive.

Your system can also receive guarantees of origin. Pronovo issues them for your electricity. With small systems the revenue is low and the effort rather small. For profitability, self-consumption counts for far more.

How big should the system be?

Many people think first of their own annual consumption. A household of four uses around 4,500 kWh a year without a heat pump and electric car. A roof often delivers much more. A 10 kWp system in the Swiss Plateau (Mittelland) generates around 10,000 kWh.

That does not mean you have to keep the roof small. The surplus flows into the grid and is paid for. More important is the question of what you will connect in the coming years: heat pump, electric car, battery. We plan the system so that this is possible later without rebuilding, more on the solar system page.

What to do in winter?

In winter a solar system delivers less electricity because the days are short. Part of your electricity demand then comes from the utility. That is normal and cannot be avoided. Two things help: east-west roofs and steep façade modules deliver comparatively more in winter, and a battery shifts electricity from the day to the evening.

For the electricity you buy from the utility in winter, it is worth looking at the tariff offer. Many utilities offer green or nature power at fair prices too. That way you combine the best of both worlds: in summer you largely supply yourself, and in winter you draw electricity from Swiss hydropower.

Solar power without your own roof: ZEV and LEG

Not everyone has a roof. But tenants and owners in apartment buildings can also use solar power:

• In a self-consumption community (ZEV), all parties in the building use the electricity from the system on the roof. The electricity is billed internally. We plan metering, contracts and billing, more under ZEV.
• A local electricity community (LEG) makes it possible to share solar power across property boundaries within the same grid area. Whether this suits your neighbourhood depends on the grid operator.

The owner or property management has to decide. As a tenant, you can raise the subject.

An example to put this in perspective: at 4,500 kWh consumption and a 3 ct. surcharge, a nature power product costs about CHF 135 a year more. That money is gone, and nothing remains on the house in return. A system, by contrast, stands on your roof for 25 to 30 years and produces year after year. The surcharge is only an example, and your utility sets it itself.

What suits whom?

• Homeowners with a suitable roof: your own system. It is cheaper and more direct than any tariff. A green tariff product for the remaining electricity in winter is a supplement.
• Owners of apartment buildings: a system with a ZEV. The solar power stays in the building, which makes the investment more economical.
• Tenants with no influence over the roof: a green or nature power product from the utility, or suggest a ZEV to the landlord.

We calculate it for your roof

Whether solar power from your own roof pays off for you depends on your roof, your consumption and your utility’s tariff. We come by, check the roof and electrical installation and calculate with your figures. The site visit is free. Afterwards you receive a binding quote within 72 hours for your solar system, with yield forecast, subsidies and payback.