The biggest story today is about the forecast rise of the price of electricity for 2024. In average this will rise by 18%, meaning that a family of 4 will end up paying an extra CHF 1000.- for their electricity bill. However the difference in price between cantons and even counties is uneven. Whereas some places such as Einsiedeln and Hergisiwl bei Willisau will see prices go up by over 50%, in Gretzenbach the price will go down by 2.5%. There are over 600 electricity companies in Switzerland and the difference in infrastructure they offer is reflected in the price they charge. Switzerland buys most of the electricity it does not generate from France, but the country is struggling to get the uranium it needs for its nuclear reactors, meaning that it will be more expensive to import.
Shopping tourism is back. The Swiss have gone back to their pre-pandemic habits of going to Germany to do a lot of their shopping. This despite the fact that prices in Germany have gone up by 30% due to inflation, but the fact that the Swiss franc is still strong means that the price difference can be absorbed and saving still made. Aldi Switzerland did a campaign where they showed that 21 products bought in Switzerland instead of Germany were actually 30% cheaper but they were criticised for leaving meat and dairy products out which are a lot more expensive here.
How do you know that the summer is over? Because traffic jams are back. Monday and Tuesday were particularly bad. On Monday on the A2 at 16.30 an accident happened when a young mother collided with the tunnel wall in the Sonnenbergtunnel causing a 2 hour traffic jam. At 17.30 in Emmenbrücke two separate accidents took place, when intoxicated drivers lost the control of their vehicules, causing more traffic jams. Yesterday another accident on the A2 led to more traffic jams. Luckily noone was seriously injured.
The beautiful weather will continue until the end of this week. With temperatures nearing 30° celsius!
