What drives electricity tariffs in Switzerland? Two-stage statistical and geospatial analysis of structural differences across 1913 municipalities

Abstract

We present a two-staged statistical and geospatial analysis exploring the discrepancies of household electricity tariffs across 1,913 Swiss municipalities. First, we perform a multilinear regression analysis, considering structural, socio-demographic data and energy transition indicators together with the actual regulated electricity tariffs. Secondly, a geo-statistical analysis was carried to investigate upon the spatial autocorrelation of electricity tariffs with selected model variables. Outcomes show that the strong variation in electricity tariffs cannot be fully explained by the chosen socio-demographic variables or the uptake from distributed energy resources in Swiss municipalities, calling for additional research on the currently unknown influencing factors at work that shape domestic electricity tariffs in Switzerland.