ZEV: the 10 percent, the timing and the costs that may not be passed on to tenants

The system on the apartment building has been costed, the owner wants a ZEV (Zusammenschluss zum Eigenverbrauch, a self-consumption community), and the question on the table is whether it is possible at all and who pays what afterwards. Three provisions answer it, and they are not in the same enactment — admissibility in the Energy Act, the threshold in the Energy Ordinance, the obligations back in the Act.

The threshold: 10 percent of the connection capacity

The self-consumption community is permitted provided the production output of the system or systems is at least 10 percent of the connection capacity of the community (Art. 15 para. 1 EnV, the Energy Ordinance). The Energy Act (EnG) itself puts it vaguely — the production output must be "significant" (Art. 17 para. 1 EnG) — and the ordinance sets the figure.

Two clarifications alongside it that count in the calculation:

• Systems operated for no more than 500 hours a year are not counted when determining the production output (Art. 15 para. 2 EnV). An emergency generator therefore does not raise the ratio.
• If an existing ZEV later falls below the threshold, it can only be continued if the reasons for the change arose with the existing participants (Art. 15 para. 3 EnV). If the connection capacity grows because a participant upgrades, the ZEV survives; if it grows through a newcomer, that is a different question.

Where the ZEV ends physically

The place of production is the plot of land on which the production system is located (Art. 14 para. 1 EnV). It can include further plots, provided the self-produced electricity can also be consumed there without using the distribution grid (para. 2).

And the provision that opens up the most in practice: at voltage levels below 1 kV, the connection line and the local electrical infrastructure at the grid connection point may be used for self-consumption (Art. 14 para. 3 EnV). What used to require a dedicated line may, below this threshold, run over the existing infrastructure.

The tenant question, and why timing decides everything

The owner can also provide shared self-consumption for their tenants and is then responsible for supplying them (Art. 17 para. 2 EnG).

⚠️ Opting out is tied to a point in time. Tenants have the option, when shared self-consumption is introduced, of choosing basic supply from the grid operator. They can only assert this right later if the owner fails to meet their obligations under paragraph 2 (Art. 17 para. 3 EnG). Anyone who says nothing at the introduction stays in, as long as supply continues.

The right of grid access under Art. 13 StromVG (the Electricity Supply Act) remains unaffected in principle.

The costs, and the rule most often broken

The owner must bear the costs associated with introducing shared self-consumption themselves, insofar as they are not covered by the grid usage charge — and may not pass these costs directly on to tenants (Art. 17 para. 4 EnG).

This directly affects what the electrical contractor quotes: meters, metering equipment, cabling, commissioning of the ZEV. This item belongs on the owner's invoice, not in a service charge statement. Anyone who builds the quote so that it is later to be passed on as service charges is building in a dispute that someone else will have to fight.

What must be recorded in writing

When the community is formed, the following must be recorded at least in writing (Art. 16 para. 1 EnV):

• who represents the community externally;
• the method of metering internal consumption, of providing data, of administration and of billing;
• the electricity product to be purchased externally, and the terms for changing that product.

Three points, and the first is the one that saves the most time on site: from the moment the community is formed, the end consumers are, with regard to drawing electricity from the grid, to be treated together as a single end consumer (Art. 18 para. 1 EnG). From then on the grid operator has one point of contact — which is why the ZEV needs one who is named.

Related articles

Anyone who wants to know which inspections and certificates attach to the system itself will find them in the article "Initial verification, final inspection, acceptance inspection". How additional work compared with the quote is treated legally is covered in the article "Quote variation". When the application for one-off remuneration has to be filed — before or after commissioning, depending on system size — is covered in the article "One-off remuneration: for small systems only after commissioning, for large ones before". And the deadlines around the one-off remuneration are calculated by the EIV deadline calculator. If wallboxes are added to the same property, the 10 percent threshold depends on the same connection capacity as the charging infrastructure — the connection is explained in the article "Wallbox and ZEV on the same building connection".

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Sources: Energy Act (EnG, SR 730.0), Arts. 16, 17 and 18; Energy Ordinance (EnV, SR 730.01), Arts. 14, 15 and 16 — fedlex.admin.ch, versions accessed on 29 August 2026. The provisions cited are reproduced in their wording. Several of them are in the version of the Federal Act of 29 September 2023 on a Secure Electricity Supply from Renewable Energy Sources, in force since 1 January 2025. This article is not legal advice; for interpretation in an individual case, the owner, the grid operator and, where necessary, the court are responsible.