CH: 21 minutes of power outages per end customer in 2024

End customers experienced an average of 21 minutes of power outages in 2024. This resulted in 0.34 power outages per capita. The duration of the power outages increased by three minutes compared to the previous year.

This means that Switzerland continues to be one of the countries with the highest supply quality in Europe, as the Electricity Commission (Elcom), the independent state regulatory authority for the electricity sector, announced in its newsletter on Friday. Switzerland is on par with Denmark, Germany, and Luxembourg.

Of the 21 minutes of power outages per end consumer in 2024, eleven minutes were planned and ten were unplanned. Of the average number of 0.34 power outages, 0.16 were planned. There were 0.18 unexpected power outages.

The planned power outages were intended to maintain the facilities. The causes of unplanned power outages ranged from natural disasters to operational factors such as short circuits, overloads, or external influences such as civil engineering work, to human error.

Broken down by event, thunderstorms, storms, or animals interrupted the average end customer's power for two minutes during the reporting year. Short circuits and similar events cut power for four minutes. Human error and external influence each accounted for one minute. Other causes accounted for two minutes.

Elcom calculates power supply quality annually based on interruption reports of more than three minutes from the 91 largest grid operators, which supply 87 percent of Switzerland's electricity.

APA/sda