Preparing for a volatile energy system
The electricity market has changed fundamentally in recent years. Fossil, centralized generation with stable, low costs, has given way to renewable, decentralized generation with volatile, higher costs. Energy-intensive companies with high and growing power consumption feel this shift hardest. For a long time, treating electricity costs as a minor overhead and managing energy passively was good enough. Today, energy costs decide the competitiveness of business models and even location decisions. Where the electricity market goes from here is uncertain. One thing is clear: there is no going back to the old world.
Volatility is here to stay
A look at Swiss electricity prices over the past few years reveals two trends. First, prices have nearly doubled over the last decade, depending on the timeframe. Second, spreads, meaning the gap between daily peak and low prices, have exploded. What was 22 euros per megawatt hour in 2020 became 95 euros in 2026. That’s an annual increase of roughly 28 percent.
The cause isn’t an accident. It’s the expansion of renewables. The more renewable capacity enters the grid, the more generation fluctuates. Sun and wind don’t follow demand, and they can’t be controlled. Installed PV capacity has grown by around 19 percent a year for a decade. Generation volatility will keep rising.
Regulatory uncertainty, particularly around the electricity agreement between Switzerland and the EU, won’t reverse this trend either. The specific rules will shape the conditions energy-intensive companies operate under. But one thing is certain: the ability to manage volatility in both price and generation will be decisive. Companies that adapt now gain an advantage. Those who freeze in the face of complexity and uncertainty risk an expensive mistake.
Turning volatility into value
This calls for a shift in perspective: treat volatility as an opportunity. Dynamic tariff models make it possible, for the first time, to capture that fluctuation directly. Providers like CKW, Primeo Energie, EKZ, and Groupe E now display grid and energy costs transparently, hour by hour. Companies that shift consumption to cheaper hours pay less. Those that actively steer their loads can even earn money on the market.
The difference between a company that seizes this opportunity and one that ignores it isn’t a technical question. It’s a data question. More precisely, it comes down to whether a company knows the value of its own energy data, and uses it.
Data-driven energy management
Energy-intensive companies operate extensive, distributed, and growing electrical infrastructure. Every asset generates data. But too often, that data sits unused and unstructured, scattered across systems, departments, and spreadsheets.
Data-driven energy management changes that. The approach is modular and follows a simple logic: three building blocks come together on a cloud platform. First, a single source of truth that consolidates all measured consumption and related energy data. Second, forecasting and analytics to uncover efficiency potential and make data-based decisions. Third, optimization, which enables companies to steer consumption and market it on the electricity market.
The word modular is key. A step-by-step approach enables iterative learning, controlled development of proprietary modules, targeted integration of external providers, and flexible responses to change. And every step delivers standalone value on its own.
Value at every step
The first gain is transparency. Companies that measure and consolidate their data in one place get, for the first time, a single, reliable, and accessible source of information. That alone often surfaces surprising insights.
The second gain is efficiency. Forecasting and analytics uncover savings potential and reduce the effort spent on manual analysis. Decisions are based on numbers, not gut feeling.
The third gain is flexibility. Companies that can shift consumption over time cut costs and actively capture price spreads. That’s how volatility, the thing everyone fears, becomes a lever for the bottom line.
What it takes
That’s the opportunity. But honesty matters too: this path doesn’t happen on its own. Three factors determine whether the idea turns into value.
First, the effort. Every building block comes at a cost: platform, integration, IT resources, and usually cloud expertise. Anyone who glosses over that is selling a fairy tale. This is exactly where the modular approach pays off. It breaks the investment into digestible steps. Instead of a single large project with an uncertain outcome, companies invest module by module and evaluate whether the next stage is worthwhile. A clear view of strategic value, do-nothing scenarios, payback periods, and make-or-buy decisions for each module leads to better outcomes than freezing in front of one big monolithic leap.
Second, data quality. The entire logic depends on reliable measurement data. Without a solid data foundation, forecasting, optimization, and marketing simply don’t work. This is where the uncomfortable reality hits many companies: they lack quarter-hourly consumption data at the asset level. That’s why the roadmap doesn’t start with measurement by accident. A clean metering infrastructure, a clear measurement concept, and a matching data model form the core of the single source of truth.
Third, operational flexibility. Load shifting sounds simple, but it only works where the process allows it. A continuous production line, a logistics operation, or a data center can’t simply be ramped up and down at will. Flexibility potential depends heavily on the process, though it can be intelligently combined with flexible assets like energy storage. Where processes limit flexibility potential, the relevant value usually lies in transparency and efficiency. That’s exactly why the modular approach makes sense: it doesn’t force companies into the third step if it isn’t economically worthwhile.
The payoff lies in your own data
For many companies, electricity is no longer a minor cost item. It’s critical to value creation and a relevant factor in financial performance. And yet, in many organizations, energy is still treated as a matter of supply, not strategy.
The companies that lead in the coming years won’t be the ones with the cheapest contracts. They’ll be the ones who master their own data. They don’t just react to the market. They play it.
The bottom line: volatility isn’t going away. The only question is whether it works for you, or against you.
