Key facts
Swissgrid is the national grid company which has been operating the 6,700km-long electricity transmission network, and has owned it since 2013. Its main task is to ensure the safe, reliable, efficient and effective operation of the electricity transmission network, as the basis for Switzerland’s grid-based electricity supply. It ensures that the supply and demand for electricity is always balanced, in order to keep the frequency stable at 50 Hertz. To achieve this, it uses reserve power supplies and works with European grid operators.
The Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) has carried out an audit into whether Swissgrid’s risk and business continuity management is set up in such a way that the security of supply from the grid is economically guaranteed. It also checked whether Swissgrid and the federal government are exercising their responsibility appropriately. Based on the results of the preparatory work, the SFAO decided not to carry out a full audit, and to record its findings in this summary report.
Swissgrid can improve its risk management by identifying the interrelationship between the individual risks and providing the company management and the Board of Directors with the total financial risk. There is urgent need for action amongst the 120 or so active balance groups registered in Switzerland, in order to make the forecasts of the required power supply more precise. Electricity consumption and production must be evenly balanced at all times inside a balance group (a virtual group which includes various electricity market stakeholders), so that the electricity grid remains stable. One of the main challenges is the integration of renewable sources of energy, such as photovoltaic systems. Swissgrid, ElCom and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) are required to tighten and enforce regulations regarding inadequate forecasts.