Heat pump in the Canton of Appenzell InnerrhodenReplace heating in AI.

Permit: building application for air-to-water, permit for boreholes

In Appenzell Innerrhoden, the Office for the Environment assesses heat pumps in the building permit procedure and sets requirements. For air-to-water heat pumps, a noise protection assessment is mandatory. For this, the canton requires the form of the Swiss heat pump association, which contains the sound levels of many manufacturers. The building application goes to the building administration of the Inneres Land district or, for Oberegg, to the district administration. Whether a simplified procedure is possible, we clarify with the building administration before the quote.

Boreholes (ground probes) need a permit. The borehole map in the geoportal is decisive. In yellow areas, boreholes are permitted, and from a total borehole length of 150 metres a preliminary hydrogeological assessment is needed. In brown areas they are permitted with conditions, and in red areas they are not permitted. We check your site and handle the application.

Replacing your heating system: what the Energy Act requires

When a heating system is replaced in existing residential buildings, the share of non-renewable energy must not exceed 90 percent of the relevant demand. This is met with standard solutions or with substitute measures on the building envelope, for example new windows. For a building in GEAK class D or better (cantonal energy certificate for buildings), replacement is possible without additional measures. A heat pump meets the requirement in full.

Subsidies in Appenzell Innerrhoden

The Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden subsidises energy measures through its own programme, and the contact point is the energy office. With all subsidy bodies, applications must be submitted and approved before execution. We could not verify the 2026 heat pump amounts from official sources, so we do not state any figures. We clarify the amount during the site visit and submit the application for you.

In addition, there is the climate bonus (Klimaprämie) from Energie Zukunft Schweiz for replacing fossil heating systems. Double funding is not allowed, and we check which option brings you more.

Grid operator and electricity price

The cantonal median is 27.6 ct./kWh excluding VAT, practically the Swiss median of 27.7 ct. The Feuerschaugemeinde Appenzell supplies four of the five communes (27.6 ct.), and Elektra Walzenhausen supplies one commune (30.5 ct.). The heat pump is registered with the grid operator through a technical connection application. Some utilities have their own tariffs or blocking times, and we clarify this for your utility.

A special feature: little oil and gas

In the canton, only 32.2 percent of residential buildings are heated with fossil fuels, and 64.2 percent heat with renewables. Where an oil or gas heating system is still in place, switching to a heat pump and a solar system is worthwhile before the next breakdown. 64.5 percent of residential buildings date from before 1981, and for these houses we check the flow temperature of the radiators.