Everything is getting more expensive. Even electricity. For years, electricity in Switzerland was priced at plus/minus 20 centimes per kilowatt hour. However, then the Russian army invaded Ukraine and the price of electricity rose by 29 % to 27.20 centimes per kilowatt hour in one year. In 2024, electricity will cost an average of 32.15 centimes per kilowatt hour in the country (up 18 %). The highest price will be in Braunau in the canton of Thurgau at 57.48 centimes, and the lowest in Zwischbergen in the canton of Valais at 10.22 centimes. The electricity price increase means additional costs of several hundred francs per household. In Winterthur, for example, an average household will have to expect to pay CHF 1,560 instead of CHF 1,213 per year in 2024.
When energy becomes scarce and expensive, many people think about how they can reduce their energy consumption without compromising their living comfort and thus their quality of life too much. Of course you can, for example, lower the room temperature in the living room to 16 or 17 degrees, put on a warm jumper and read a book by candlelight instead of watching TV. But there are also smarter ways. Thanks to smart technology, you can, for example, heat, light, cool, rinse, wash or dry intelligently. In this way, you can optimise your electricity consumption with little effort, reduce your energy costs sustainably and increase your living comfort at the same time.
A lot of electricity is lost in stand-by mode. Smart sockets are connected between the sockets and appliances. They measure power consumption and switch the power on and off via an app or, increasingly, voice-controlled, for example with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Very practical: with a smart switch at the front door of your house or flat, you can switch off all networked devices when you leave the house or switch them on when you get home.
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Heating energy consumption can be massively reduced with intelligent heating systems and thermostats. Intelligent heating controls are easy to programme and can be adapted to personal requirements. For example, you can set the bathroom to be heated to 22 to 24 degrees in the morning, evening and at weekends, but only to 18 to 20 degrees during the day and at night. If you lower the average room temperature in your house or flat by 1 degree, you can save up to 6 % of heating energy. You should also have your heating system serviced before the start of each heating period, whether it is intelligently controlled or not. This includes bleeding the radiators, checking all settings and adjusting them if necessary.
Intelligent thermostats replace the control dials on radiators and also work perfectly with modern underfloor heating systems.
More and more intelligent thermostats can be networked with window or door sensors. These report as soon as someone in the house opens or closes a window or door and automatically switch the heating off or on again.
After heating, lighting is the second biggest electricity consumer in most households. Here, too, you can save a lot of energy with little effort. For example, if you network smart lights and programme on/off routines or different lighting scenarios via the app. For example, brighter for dinner and dimmed for an evening in front of the TV. The system automatically adjusts the light intensity to the time of day. The lights can also be networked with a motion detector and switch on automatically at night or at dusk when you enter the room and switch off again after the programmed time. So you never forget to switch off the light in the garage, cellar or stairwell again.
With a well thought-out lighting concept and/or a simple motion detector, you not only save energy and money, but also effectively protect your belongings from intruders. Find out how in the article «Burglary Protection and Alarm System: How to Protect your Home».
Replace old lamps with intelligent LED lights. Although these cost a little more, they reduce electricity consumption by up to 80 % in the long term. Furthermore, energy-saving bulbs last much longer than normal light bulbs, averaging 35,000 hours.
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More and more household appliances are becoming "intelligent". For example, the fridge, for instance, which recognises drinks or food and automatically sets the right temperature in the various areas to optimise its energy efficiency. Or it not only warns you with a beep if you don't close the door properly, but also with a notification on your smartphone. This is because a lot of food spoils quickly if the temperature is set too high or the fridge door is left open for too long. This helps you avoid wasting energy and food.
Replace old household appliances with energy-efficient appliances. In the article «Energy Efficiency: New Energy Labels for Household Appliances» we explain what you should look out for. You can find out whether a repair or replacement makes more sense in «Repair or Replace Household Appliances?».
Intelligent dishwashers "think" for themselves. For example, they recognise the degree of soiling of cutlery, crockery or glasses, automatically start the optimum programme and optimise both energy and water consumption. They also save preferences so that you don't have to select all the options every time and can be muted via the app for 30 minutes, for example, if your favourite TV series is playing or you want to make a phone call in a quiet room.
Smart household appliances can be connected via the Internet of Things and services such as If This Then That For example, you can programme the LED lights in the kitchen to flash when the dishwasher is ready or receive an email when maintenance is due.
Intelligent washing machines and tumble dryers automatically adapt their washing and drying cycles to the amount of laundry, textiles and water hardness. Sensors optimise energy and water consumption and detect sensitive textiles. You can also operate or programme your washing machine and tumble dryer remotely using your smartphone so that the laundry is ready when you get home, for example. Like all smart household appliances, smart washing machines and tumble dryers also collect consumption data and automatically report faults or problems to you or the manufacturer, who can help remotely if necessary.
If you are interested in how you can reduce your electricity consumption (and have read this far ...), you probably have a photovoltaic system or are thinking of getting one. In fact, a photovoltaic system is the perfect complement to an energy-efficient smart home. The higher the self-consumption, the faster the investment costs are amortised. And with smart home devices, you can distribute your energy consumption throughout the day and maximise your self-consumption. If you connect your photovoltaic system to the smart home devices via the energy management system, you can harmonise power generation and consumption. For example, you can determine which devices are supplied with solar power and when, or whether the household should be supplied first or the battery storage system charged.
You can find out all about energy management systems in our article «Energy Management: How to Optimize your Power Consumption». If you do not (yet) have a photovoltaic system, we recommend our article «Planning a Solar System: 7 Steps to a Photovoltaic System».
