Werner Luginbühl says that electricity is currently being used in a completely thoughtless manner. And he criticizes that politicians have not taken warnings of power shortages seriously.
The chairman of the Federal Electricity Commission (LCom), Werner Luginbühl, believes that switching off electricity by the hour in winter in Switzerland is not out of the question. But they say: “Such a situation would be manageable.”
This is the worst case scenario, as he said in an interview with “NZZ am Sonntag”. «It is certainly advisable to have enough candles in the house. And if you have a wood stove, you should stock enough firewood.»
Leaders did not take warnings seriously
Luginbühl criticizes that politicians have not taken Alcom’s long-standing warnings of a winter power outage seriously. The Ukraine war has now made the situation worse than Alcom expected. “The situation in recent months has shown that we have to approach the issue of security of supplies more decisively and decisively,” Luginbuhl said.
Photo: Alessandro della Valle (Keystone/Archive)
There is a risk that Europe will experience widespread electricity and gas shortages. It would also mean that France – otherwise a main supplier – would end up as a power source in the winter. According to Luginbuhl, depending on the situation, Germany and Italy can be considered as suppliers. The Swiss reservoir’s new emergency stockpile was only enough for two to six weeks to weather the worst of the odds.
What should be lacking, federal politicians are considering drastic measures, according to “NZZ am Sonntag”: street lighting should be reduced and lights in shop windows and neon signs should be turned off. Others are calling for public transport and in buildings to lower temperatures and not heat empty holiday homes. The ban on the use of snow guns and the sale of electric heaters is also being debated.
