Electricity Prices 2027: What Cooking Costs per Use

On 8 September 2026, the Federal Electricity Commission ElCom published the electricity tariffs for 2027. A typical household (consumption profile H4) will pay a median of 26.5 Rp./kWh in 2027 (ElCom, 8 September 2026). That is about 1.2 Rp. less than in 2026. For cooking, the drop is small. One standard oven cycle costs 18.0 Rp. at the 2026 median and 17.2 Rp. in 2027.

How you cook matters far more than the new tariff. Baked in the oven, 500 g of potatoes cost 26.8 Rp. of electricity. In a pressure cooker, the same potatoes cost 4.3 to 5.0 Rp. (2026 median). Below are the new prices, the cost per use of six appliances and habits that measurably save energy.

What ElCom announced for 2027

ElCom's reference household is profile H4. It is a 5-room flat with an electric cooker and a tumble dryer, but no electric water heater. It uses 4'500 kWh a year (ElCom, tariff declaration guide 2027).

• Total median 2027: 26.5 Rp./kWh, after 27.7 Rp./kWh in 2026 (ElCom FAQ on the 2026 tariffs).
• Energy: down from 12.11 to 11.35 Rp./kWh. Grid use: up from 10.73 to 10.94 Rp./kWh.
• Annual bill for H4: CHF 1'194 in 2027, CHF 53 less than in 2026.

ElCom explains the drop mainly with lower procurement costs, as expensive supply contracts run out. The sharp rise in wholesale prices since March 2026 barely shows in 2027 and may only appear in later years. ElCom's tariff website gives all figures excluding VAT (ElCom, tariffs 2027). Your bill adds VAT at the standard rate of 8.1%, in force since 1 January 2024 (ESTV). New tariffs apply from 1 January and stay fixed for the whole year.

What one use costs: oven, hob, kettle, microwave, airfryer

The table multiplies each measured consumption by the ElCom median for profile H4. That is 27.7 Rp./kWh for 2026 and 26.5 Rp./kWh for 2027, both excluding VAT. The oven, hob, kettle and microwave values come from the Zurich utility EKZ. They describe one standard use of a modern, efficient model, rounded to 5 Wh (EKZ, 2025). The airfryer comparison comes from a lab test by the British consumer organisation Which? (Which?, 2024). It cooked 320 g of frozen chips in both appliances.

First, the 2027 tariff saves you 0.8 Rp. on a standard oven cycle and only fractions of a Rappen on the kettle or microwave. Second, the airfryer used about a third of the oven's energy for the same chips. The Swiss consumer programme Kassensturz found something similar in 2022. Because of its larger volume, an oven uses about three times more electricity than an airfryer (SRF Kassensturz, 6 December 2022).

Same 500 g of potatoes, different methods

A Swiss lab test shows how much the method counts. The Swiss Agency for Efficient Energy Use S.A.F.E. ran it for EKZ and WWF Switzerland (S.A.F.E., 2012). It measured the energy needed to cook 500 g of potatoes in different ways. The test dates from 2012, so read the values as a comparison of methods, not of today's appliances. Ranges cover the hob types tested (induction, glass ceramic, cast iron).

Baking the potatoes used about ten times the energy of the most efficient method in the test, an insulated pan on induction. A lid alone cut energy use by about 40%. The pressure cooker saved around 30% compared with a normal pot with lid. It had the potatoes ready in 15 minutes in total, while all other methods took at least twice as long.

Habits that cut the cost

• Put the lid on. In the S.A.F.E. test, a lid saved about 40% of the energy for boiling potatoes. With a lid, less than 200 W keeps 1.5 litres of water boiling. Without a lid, the hob needs 750 W, according to the cantonal energy offices (energie-umwelt.ch, 2025). One-pot dishes make this easy: see our one-pot meals on a budget.
• Use the kettle for water you drink or pour. For a cup of tea, a kettle needs almost half the electricity of a pot on the hob (energie-umwelt.ch, 2025). Boil only what you need. For pasta, the S.A.F.E. test found no real saving from heating the water in the kettle first: 410 Wh without, 413 Wh with. The pot and the hob still have to heat up.
• Fill the oven. EnergieSchweiz recommends using the whole oven and cooking several dishes at once. Fan mode saves 15% compared with top and bottom heat. Preheating is rarely needed, a soufflé being one exception (EnergieSchweiz). See also our guide to restarting batch cooking.
• Use residual heat. Switch the oven off five minutes before the end (EnergieSchweiz). On glass ceramic and cast iron hobs, switching off a few minutes early works too. An induction hob stores no heat, so the trick does not work there.
• Airfryer for small portions, oven for a crowd. According to Which?, the savings are biggest with small amounts. If you have to cook in several batches, the oven can work out cheaper. Kassensturz adds that the lower consumption only makes up for the energy used to build the device after many uses.
• Cook double, reheat in the microwave. In the S.A.F.E. test, 1'000 g of potatoes in a pot with lid on induction needed only 37% more energy than 500 g. Reheating 500 g in the microwave took 64 Wh, far less than cooking them again.

Why your own bill can differ

The median is a middle value for Switzerland, not your own tariff. Around 580 grid operators set their own tariffs. ElCom says they vary considerably, mainly because of differences in energy procurement. On the ElCom tariff website you can look up the 2027 tariff for your municipality and your consumption profile. Three more points:

• Households using less than 100'000 kWh a year cannot choose their supplier. They stay in the basic supply of their local grid operator (ElCom FAQ).
• Part of the bill is a fixed metering tariff. At the 2027 median it is CHF 78.48 a year, and it ranges from CHF 0 to CHF 180 between operators. A kWh you save therefore cuts your bill by slightly less than the average price.
• Is your consumption far from 4'500 kWh? Then pick a closer profile on the ElCom website, for example H1 for a 2-room flat or H2 for a 4-room flat.

Where Eini fits

Eini's Groceries module builds a weekly meal plan for lunch and dinner on the days you cook. The plan is built around the week's promotions at Coop, Migros, Lidl, Aldi, Denner and Aligro. With "cook once, eat twice", Eini plans leftovers on purpose, so one oven or hob session covers two meals. In the settings you enter the appliances you own, and the automatic shopping list is grouped by store, category or recipe. The first 3 meal plans are free.