Energy sales vary from region to region
Industrielle Betriebe Interlaken AG (IBI) sold slightly less electricity and significantly less gas in 2025. Water sales, however, increased. The company also reduced electricity prices by around 24 per cent and will abolish the dual tariff system in 2026.
Industrielle Betriebe Interlaken AG (IBI) sold around 96 million kilowatt hours of electricity in its distribution network in 2025. This represents a slight decrease of 0.9 per cent compared to the previous year. At 13.2 million kilowatt hours, own production was 12 per cent below the previous year’s figure. According to a statement by the energy and water supplier in the Interlaken area, this was due to warranty work on the hydroelectric power plant on the shipping canal.
The decline was more pronounced in the case of gas. Sales fell to 35.9 million kilowatt hours, which corresponds to a decrease of 19.7 per cent. According to IBI, large customers in particular had optimised their systems or switched to alternative heating systems.
Water sales in 2025, on the other hand, were 1.1 per cent above the previous year’s figure at around 1.8 million cubic metres. The proportion of spring water was 97 per cent, compared with 99.4 per cent in the previous year. The reason for the decline was cleaning and inspection work on the infrastructure facilities in the Saxettal valley.
IBI reduced electricity prices by around 24 per cent in the reporting year. This was because the company was able to purchase energy for 2025 at a lower price following the price increases from mid-2022 onwards. In addition, the national grid company Swissgrid also reduced the costs for system services and electricity reserves.
IBI switched from a dual tariff to a single tariff at the beginning of 2026. The dual tariff, which had been in place since the 1960s, shifted part of electricity consumption to night-time. The strong expansion of photovoltaics has now changed the logic of electricity production and consumption, with solar power being fed into the grid during the day.