Federal Electricity Commission reflects on 2022 power shortage warning

Looking back, Swiss Federal Electricity Commission (ElCom) President Werner Luginbühl has confirmed the warnings of an electricity shortage. The feared shortage did not materialise, primarily due to the weather, as Luginbühl said in an interview on Thursday. It rained a lot in autumn 2022 and the winter was unusually mild. "That's the only reason we got off lightly," said the president of the Swiss Federal Electricity Commission (ElCom) in an interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) published on Thursday. The situation was very threatening. "It is always easy to criticise decisions with hindsight," said Luginbühl when asked by the newspaper about a ruling by the Federal Administrative Court last week. According to the ruling, the Federal Council should not have issued an operating ordinance for the reserve power plant in canton Aargau, which was intended to supply Switzerland with electricity in the event of a shortage. The judges mainly criticised the fact that the lower ...