This is already happening. Visit the website of your local electricity distributor and you’ll probably find an offer to install a couple panels in your home, hide the inverter somewhere and plug to a 220V outlet.
This is backed by the Swiss Energy Strategy 2050 that went to popular vote in 2017. Among the new regulations, there was a mandate to install smart meters which allow electricity from the panels to be sent back to the grid.
I’m currently in the negotiation period with my wife to let me put a solar panel on the balcony table. Or, if I don’t find a panel of the right size, I could use some waste wood and make a table for it. I’m curious to see how much power the panel can generate in the loggia. With such prices(10 CHF) and even if it’s 20W, it’s working half a day. Also, it’s for science
It seems it’s mostly about covering the whole roof of a 19th century house during renovation. Otherwise, not much.
The only gossip around my village is that someone in the 2 or 3 historic blocks in the “center” wanted to do that and lots of objections. Or if you live in a place with houses above a certain level of wealth…in that case, why worry about energy prices?
I’ll refuel the car later today. I checked prices in the gas station closest to home last night and it seems to be 20% more expensive (from 1.6 to 1.9/litre today for 95) than before this war started. 98 like 15-20 Rappen more as usual.
How come gas in the country that doesn’t need an open Strait of Hormuz went up 50%?
It’s not the CHF/USD exchange, it has barely moved since end of February 2026.
The price is determined by the world oil price - if US petrol retailers don’t pay the world price the producers will sell elsewhere.
The increase at the pump should be roughly the same in absolute terms - but the % will be more in the US because the tax take on hydrocarbons is much less.
Made some numbers and I still don’t understand hahaha
Oil is about 50% up since end of February.
I tried to consider taxes
The increase in fuel price (Total price - taxes) was Switzerland 28%, Oklahoma 75%, California 41%.
Taxes do buffer the apparent increase in final prices. It doesn’t look that bad because we pay a lot of taxes. So, Switzerland increase in total price 19%, OK 64%, CA 33%.
Over the past 12 months, the Swiss franc has appreciated by about 4.7% to 6.6% against the US dollar, depending on the source and exact comparison date.
It’s actually quite worrying to me. The price doesn’t increase fast enough, fuel consumption remains the same and we may found ourselves with a sudden peak in price and unavailability of fuel out of nowhere. Why isn’t the price increased more to lower consumption and ensure we have enough fuel to last more than a few months?
That’s why I filled up my heating oil tank and keep the car tank topped up. I considered filling up the jerry can too, but I really don’t use the car much so not really a big deal if I can’t drive it.
The EU just told airlines with creative people: the price of ticket at reservation time is the final price. No stories about fuel surcharges a few days before travel.
“Airlines may adapt their published fares to the situation, but adding a fuel surcharge to a ticket after it has been bought cannot be justified,” EU spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen told reporters in Brussels.
Any changes post-booking can “raise issues under the EU’s unfair commercial practices”, she added.
In a document published on Friday on the energy crisis affecting the aviation sector, the EU said “any retroactive change of the price is excluded”.
“Airlines may not include terms and conditions which would allow them to increase the price of the ticket above what is advertised at the time of purchase simply because fuel was more expensive than they had accounted for,” the European Commission said.
What are the four columns of numbers? Can you label each column?
In Switzerland, Google tells me the total gasoline tax is over 50% of the pre-Iran war fuel price, so doubling the before-tax fuel price would increase the final price by around a third.
Columns are labeled, 8 columns If you use the dark background version of the forum, the labels are gone.If you click on the image, the full table is shown. No idea what happened
Anyway, I estimated 56% of taxes (mineral oil tax + VAT) in final price in 2026. Then, a 50% increase in oil price would cause a 28% increase in final price. More or less the numbers you mention.
One should not be so worried about an energy crunch from the Iran conflict. Instead we should be worried about data centers upping our electric bills or even turning off our lights.
If you use the dark background version of the forum, the labels are gone.If you click on the image, the full table is shown. No idea what happened